Cafe Owner Threatened by Muslim Thugs in Scotland

A Pakistani atheist who runs a cafe in Scotland has been forced to wear a bullet-proof vest to work after being threatened by Muslim thugs who disapprove of his serving alcohol and distributing atheist literature.

From The Daily Record:

A PAKISTANI cafe boss yesterday claimed death threats from religious extremists had forced him to wear a bulletproof vest.

Jimshaed Sharif, 50, says he has become a target for fanatical Muslims because he plays music and serves alcohol.

Dad-of-two Jimshaed added: "I have to take these threats seriously and have been forced to start wearing a bulletproof vest.

"It is not that I think they will shoot me but I have to do everything I can to protect myself and knives are a worry.

"Muslim thugs have threatened to kill me and petrol bomb my cafe because I play music and serve customers alcohol.

"I am being targeted because I do not share their Islamic beliefs and I think this is shocking. We are supposed to live in a free country and I just want to live a free man.

"I consider myself Scottish because I was brought up here and even though I was born in Lahore a Muslim, I no longer hold any religious beliefs.

"I am being punished because of this and it is not right.

"I am prepared to stand up to these fanatics and want to send them a message that I will not be bullied into silence. I will continue to entertain my customers with Western music like Tom Waits, Radiohead and Mozart and serve them beer.

"This my city, my home. How dare they try to intimidate me and threaten me like this. It is intolerable."

Jimshaed, who runs the Pakistani Cafe on the south side of Glasgow, went on: "I have even put a note in the window saying, 'We do not welcome Nazis, religious bigots, sexist or racist people' because I am against any of that. It disgusts me."

A few days ago dad-of-two Jimshaed arrived at his restaurant to find his windows smashed in with a hammer. He said: "It was the second time my windows had been smashed but this time I think we might have CCTV footage of some kind and I reported it to the police."

Jimshaed said one man had demanded he remove books by Salman Rushdie - a figure of hate for hardline Muslims since his novel The Satanic Verses - from the books he keeps for his customers.

He said: "When I refused and told him to leave he smashed my window.

"One Friday some weeks ago when the restaurant was packed with customers, a young Pakistani man came in and told me that I must not play music or sell alcohol.

He wanted to put a leaflet in my window campaigning for a separate Muslim cemetery. It made me sick and I told him there was no way I would entertain it.

"Eventually he left but within 15 minutes about 12 men drove up outside my cafe in big fancy cars.

"They came into the cafe and started causing a disturbance telling me I had to stop playing music and selling alcohol.

"It got so bad I had to call the police.

"They said they had enough evidence to charge them with breach of the peace and asked me if I wanted to go ahead with it but I said no because I thought it would cause me more hassle in the long term."

Police said they had received a report of a vandal attack at the restaurant.

A spokeswoman said: "No arrests have been made and our inquiries are ongoing."

Hat tip: The Frozen North. Nick also has an excellent series of articles which refute some of the outrageous slurs made against The Lambeth Walk by our resident troll Solkhar.