Pendle political bloggers in row over dead soldiers (From Lancashire Telegraph)

Pendle political bloggers in row over dead soldiers

9:26am Thursday 19th November 2009

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A ROW has broken out after a Pendle political blogger appeared to criticise the families of dead soldiers.

Lib Dem blogger Irfan Ahmed has caused anger by the comments on his website, which have since been removed.

Mr Ahmed wrote an article defending the Prime Minister after he made spelling mistakes in a personal letter to the mother of dead guardsman Jamie Janes.

In the blog, he said: “The parents of the lost children have enjoyed the nice salaries that their children have been earning from the army.”

Mr Ahmed has been criticised for his “despicable” and “deplorable” comments, but yesterday he told the Lancashire Telegraph that his words had been manipulated.

“My words have been twisted and that is not what I meant to say,” he said.

“I was arguing that I thought the Prime Minister should be cut some slack in this situation.”

Coun Mohammed Iqbal, the leader of the Labour Party in Pendle, said Mr Ahmed and the Lib Dems should apologise for the comments.

He said: “I think this comment is completely deplorable and he and his party should be forced to apologise to the families who have lost loved ones who fought for our country.

“It is a despicable comment to make, nobody wants to make capital gain from losing a loved one.”

Richard Ali, the Conservative’s prospective Parliamentary candidate for Burnley, said: “These are disgraceful and completely unacceptable comments that denigrate and belittle the bravery of our armed forces and their families.”

Afzal Anwar, the Lib Dem Parliamentary candidate for Pendle, said he had not seen the blog but said: “No amount of money could replace a life and the sacrifice that people have made for our country.”

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