The newly elected Mayor of London Sadiq Khan, who officially assumed office yesterday, expressed a desire and in principle confirmed his arrival to the marking of the 21st anniversary of the genocide in Srebrenica.
Khan is a member of the Labour Party and its representative in the House of Commons. He also held ministerial offices, for communities and for transportation. He is a Pakistani and he says for himself that he is „a Muslim, British and European“.
Khan has already held several meetings with different delegations from the EU, as well as with representatives of the European Parliament. Precisely at one such meeting, Khan was recommended to visit Srebrenica on the day of the marking of the 21st anniversary of the largest genocide in Europe after the Second World War. Khan accepted the recommendation with great respect.
Khan is the first Muslim to be the mayor of the capital of Great Britain, and any other Western European capital as well. Precisely because of that, Khan is currently one of the most famous persons in media, and already during his first working day he delighted the residents of the capital with coming to work by public transportation.
After the held elections, during the inauguration ceremony held in the Southwark Cathedral Khan said he will not be a Muslim mayor, but that he will work in the interest of all people and that he will work on providing same chances as he had for everyone in London.
„I am determined in the intention to lead the most transparent, the most engaged and the most accessible administration that London has ever seen and to represent every community and every part of our city, as a mayor of all Londoners,“ Khan said at the ceremony.
However, precisely Muslims, who make up a significant part of London population, have the greatest expectations from Khan. Main Imam of the Bosniak Islamic Community in London Fahrudin Effendi Hamidović said that it is a good thing that Khan won the elections given that, as a member of the Labour Party, he has better and more opened attitudes towards Muslims and minorities.
Hamidović also said that the election of Khan as the mayor will also help in terms of breaking stereotypes towards Muslim people who live in the Christian country, i.e. that terrorism will not be connected with Islam anymore.
(Source: vijesti.ba)
