A Glasgow Tory candidate has issued a grovelling apology after repeatedly calling for politicians in Pakistan to be hanged.
Tariq Parvez also insulted the ex-wife of the country’s ousted Prime Minister Imran Khan by saying she should apply for a job at Playboy.
Deputy Scottish Labour leader Jackie Baillie said: “These are a series of deeply disturbing tweets which cast serious doubt on Mr Parvez’s suitability to represent the people of Glasgow. “
Parvez is vying to become one of the city’s next councillors for the Southside Central ward.
However, historic social media posts about the tense political situation in Pakistan have raised questions about his judgement.
In November 2014, he called for named public figures to be killed:
“Niwaz, Zardari, Disel & Wali Khan son must be hanged in public.”
Five years later he returned to the same theme in a post about Pakistan’s former president Pervez Musharraf.
“Corrup [sic] judges should be hanged along with corrupt politicians. Not General Parvez Musharraf. He is Pakistani hero.”
In another tweet, he took aim at Reham Khan, who had written a memoir about her marriage to her former spouse.
After she criticised the health policy record of the party founded by Imran Khan, Parvez responded to her directly:
“You are disgrace to women. Language used in your book edited by your son is disgusting. You should apply for a job in playboy magazine.”
Parvez, whose Twitter account features a “let’s clean up Glasgow” backdrop”, also publicly praised Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar in 2017: “Anas is rising star of British politics.”
Baillie said: “Rhetoric calling for politicians to be hanged is repugnant and inexcusable. Mr Parvez must retract these disgusting views immediately.”
Parvez said: “I apologise for making such awful remarks. This was a serious mistake and I am very sorry. It will be deleted immediately and I promise it will not happen again.”
A Scottish Conservative spokesman said: “These comments are completely out of order. We have warned the candidate about making these kind of statements, which are unacceptable. He has apologised and given assurances it will not happen again, which we have accepted.”
The Parvez row comes after a Tory council candidate apologised for declaring that the teenage murderer of tragic Jodi Jones is innocent.
Claire Brown, who is standing to be a Conservative councillor in Falkirk, had shared a Facebook post which claimed Luke Mitchell was a victim of a “clear miscarriage of justice”.
Her comments were condemned by a member of Jodi’s family and the candidate said sorry.
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