Rothpol received this email from Jahangir Akhtar at eleven minutes past midnight today:
“I request you supply me with the identity of the posters to you blog of Chris and Ali who have both written that I have an ASBO.
I also want you to remove the posts as I deem them to be lies and slanderous.
I will await your response before referring this matter to my solicitors.”
Jahangir Akhtar
Rothpol has responded in the following terms:
“Mr Akhtar,
Would be grateful for the name and address of your solicitor, so that my solicitor may correspond with them on the matters you raise.”
A response from Jahangir Akhtar (jahangirakhtar@ymail.com) received 15:45 today:
“I made a reasonable request asking you to remove the inaccurate posts and also provide me the identity of the people have posted on your blog.
You have responded by posting my private correspondence on your blog.
You leave me no alternative but to let the legal system take its coarse. I am sure you will get to know my solicitors name/ address when you are served the writ.”
This email was unsigned.
Rothpol has again responded in the following terms:
“Mr Akhtar,
re: Pre-action Protocol for Defamation
I note the contents of your reply.
I have to inform you that your attitude and general demeanour thus far, is quite simply unacceptable and will not go unchallenged.
I requested the name of your solicitors as per the Pre-action Protocol for Defamation which you are required to do promptly, when requested.
I again request that you inform me of their name and address, so that letters of claim may be exchanged.
This request, if unheeded is a very serious matter and I advise you to comply.”
Nothing further has been heard from Akhtar. Bullying and attempts at intimidation, will not work here!
Rotherham Politics 
Er, what’s an ASBO and as he got one or not??
And if you don’t tell me, I’ll refer you to RMBC’s solicitors DoWe Dooem & How or I might refer you to mine, Messrs Freeman Hardy & Willis.
Now that’s got you quackkking in your booits ant it
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Try my law firm, Messers Smith & Wesson they can surley help.
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ASBO – A, Stupid, Borough, Oaf
ASBO – Aggressive, Senseless, Boorish, Oik
Anybody else?
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A Sensible Behavior Order?
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Dear Editor, IMHO this seems a reasonable request from Cllr Jahangir Akhtar. https://rotherhampolitics.wordpress.com/2012/12/03/jahangir-akhtar-attempted-intimidation/#comments If he hasn’t got what is alluded to, then Rotherham Politics should do the honourable thing and remove the offending articles, or IMHO offer Cllr Akhtar a full apology without reservation. The simple test is this: does the person have what they are alluded to have, YES or NO? Rotherham Politics has in the past removed postings which contain incorrect information.
Yours Sincerely, Donald H. Buxton
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All Rothpol can do is to point out that no one has made any claim that Akhtar has an ASBO, so absolutely no reason for anyone to apologise! On both occasions it was used as a nickname as in ‘ASBO’ Akhtar and ‘ASBO’ for short.
I am indeed surprised, at your comment when Akhtar is just giving vent to his anger and frustration at his recent loss of face and am surprised that you are willing to assist Akhtar with your comment.
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A previous post on this site mentioned a court appearance and conviction some years ago by Mr Akhtar in relation to an assault offence. My reading of the piece was that he got a community sentence, not as Anti Social Behaviour Order, which is a completely different thing.
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Read the response given to chris1943.
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Possibly true gillian. Believe Labour brought out Asbo later to help overcome such behaviour.
The word asbo may have been left in a different context/abbreviation.
Cllr aktar. Why be so prickly and defensive. If its part of your endearing traits?
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Alabama Special Beef Order
Antediluvian Society Borough Officers
Antient Steel Brotherhood Order
Airforce Strike Bomber Observatory
Army Standard Bread Order
Aberdeen Scottish Brotherhood Organisation
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In the interests of fairness, i must point out that Councillor Akhtar does not have an anti-social behaviour order What he did have was a 130 hour community sentence for an affray in 2002.
Extract from Guardian.
Councillor joined drunken brawl
Martin Wainwright The Guardian, Wednesday 19 June 2002
08.47 BST A Labour councillor caught up in a drunken fight in a restaurant was yesterday given 130 hours’ community service.
Jahangir Akhtar, 41, was spared a prison term because of his record of helping community relations in Rotherham, where the row broke out between diners last September.
This is not the same as an ASBO it is worse, so can correspondents please get their facts right.
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‘ASBO’ Akhtar is one of Jahangir Akhtar’s common nicknames within his own community.
It is a shorthand way of referring to his conviction at Hull Crown Court for an offence of violence!
This conviction would debar him from many public offices such as standing for PCC!
Yet he makes it onto the Police and Crime Panel as Vice-Chair! Quite extraordinarily inappropriate, I would have thought?
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I rest my case….all Mr Akhtar has done is drawing attention to the fact he didn’t like it and probably ensured it now sticks…..
You should (have and should do) just let it go Jahangir…get back on with the important things in life….sort out the issues at the council….
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Firstly I’d like to say that this is a danger with running a discussion group like this, there is always someone who won’t like what is being said – The same people could be saying it in a public house and the person who is the subject has little chance of hearing of it.
Rothpol – keep up the good work, freedom of speech and all that….I don’t agree with everything you say but we’ve all got voices.
Mr Akhtar – no doubt the reference to the term you dislike is used in jest, i think people in the public eye need to develop a thicker skin – I’m sure you have been called worse (as of I). I would have thought you had other more pressing matters to be worried about other than being called a name you dislike.
If you read the terms of signing up to this site, it will tell you all you need is an anonymous mailbox from such providers as Hushmail (google it) that means that Rothpol has no knowledge of who contributors are unless they have chosen to disclose themselves. I’m sure the last thing you need is a legal case trying to find out who called you a name you dislike – i can’t imagine what the press would make of that? Can you?
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Does ASBO stand for Appalling Spelling & Bad Onglish?
He is correct in one assumption though, he does need a lawyer … to tell him the difference between slander and defamation since one is oral and the other is written. And complaining about an ASBO allegation in the face of his original conviction is a bit like complaining about spilled milk after shooting the dairy maid. He was lucky he did not go to prison for the thuggish, brutal assault he took part in.
Which leads me on to my next question – how on earth did he become Vice Chair of the Police & Crime Panel? Now that I have more time on my hands as an investigative journalist, I feel this is a story worth looking into.
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Now that you have more time ? Is this because you gathered a whopping 8% in the election? I voted UKIP in the end, against my better judgement because your amateur Muslim party were laughable – go back to Bradford where you have more ignorant and more muslim people to snaffle up your rehtoric.
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I pressed enter before i typed my username – just too eager
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The Respect Party is an anti war party which promotes equality, peace & justice and is not affiliated to any particular faith.
Furthermore we arrived in Rotherham with no supporters and were disinvited from several venues because of pressure put on by local Labour louts who were running scared. Why on earth do you think that out of all three by-elections (Middlesbrough, Croydon & Rotherham) the latter was given all the attention by the LP? The real threat came from Respect until UKIP had a lucky break on the foster story.
At one stage you couldn’t swing a cat without hitting a Labour MP in the town – the pressure was on from Respect.
Respect did not win in Rotherham but coming from a point of zero in under three weeks we managed to beat the government parties and certainly put a huge dent in Labour’s 10,000 majority.
On top of that Respect now has a membership base and will be standing candidates in the local authority elections … hardly amateurs. In Respect we say what we mean and we mean what we say … nor do we hide behind anonymous user names.
BTW. Respect is totally committed to fighting racism and Islamaphobia and your message smacks of at least one; probably just as well you hide your true identity.
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Eeeeeeee Akhtar every time thy opins thee gob summat dafter cums art. Stop diggin lad tha just mekin it wos fo thysen.
Shartin and rawpin dunt mek thee cleva or a big fella and threts only mek others moor art fo thee
Na shut thee gob theeres a gud lad
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Thanks to those of us/you who are not blocked from communicating with Akhtar for posting on here and on Twitter.
(Seems that there is a problem with his Twitter account right now though. He couldn’t be erasing comments could he ? 🙂 )
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As a card carrying Labour member I can only say that people need to support free speech especially on this Site. I would be the first to put my hand in my pocket and help with your legal costs.
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I am grateful for your comment and for your offer of financial assistance but I don’t expect the need at the moment.
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ASBO –
Akhtar’s Silly Billy Obnoxiousness
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It’s very noticeable to me that Cllr Akhtar doesn’t deny his meeting with the taxi drivers last week to buy “votes for Labour at any cost” even if it is to the detriment of the electorate. I don’t know about an ASBO this man should be serving at least 5 years for his totally corrupt practices. As for serving on the Police & Crime panel, he certainly is an expert at the Crime part of it even though I think his conviction should debar him from any position to do with overseeing the police. It appears to me that this man could corrupt anything, absolutely anything and gets away with it because, if challenged, he plays the race card every time. I know, he’s done it with me.
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@ Jim Fletcher – well Akhtar did publicly call me Islamaphobic for demanding an independent inquiry into the child grooming scandal which his council covered up for the best part of two decades. There has to be reasons for this – and sadly, I fear, none of them good. Why the cover up and to protect who? Certainly the children have not been protected at all.
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Neither was it for the asians. They’ve had Edl, nf, Bnp and local louts after em since it’s been out. Thing is most asians found out in Advertiser like most of the rest of us. This cover up is to do with council and the sooner it’s investigated, the better.
And can we have it in’t Tizer. I’ve noticed during election who gets coverage and who doesn’t. Same goes for tv, during this by election tv was being a pro CONDEM LAB exercise. Isn’t one of look north or calendar presenters married to Labour high ranking? Let’s have some Fairness int’ future.
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How many different ways can Akhtar bring the labour party into disrepute, before they rid themselves, of this deeply flawed, arrogant and bully of a man?
Why on earth was Akhtar re-admitted after standing down from the council for only two years as a result of his conviction for affray?
It’s getting embarrassing!
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Like all bullies, Akhtar being no exception, they expect their intimidation and threats to work. When they don’t, they act like a spoilt child, as can be seen here.
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I would also like to know what the council’s policy is towards licensed taxi drivers who have convictions for violence – are they deemed suitable candidates for running, controlling, supervising Rotherham’s much valued taxi services? Now that Respect is going to become part of the political scene in Rotherham we will be asking these and other relevant questions – we need to get through to the local authority that criminal convictions, especially for violence should be declared for job interviews, taxi and private security licensing.
And until there are no more council cover ups, Rotherham Politics might be the best forum in which to raise these issues initially … and I’m sure the local MP would relish the challenge as well since I’m sure we share the same views of convictions for violence.
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The numbers of licences issued and the number of licence holders with declared criminal convictions, but not the names of individuals, can be obtained by a request under FoI. Likewise the numbers refused and the grounds for that refusal. However, to enable a meaningful comparison to be made, identical requests would need to be made to a random sample of other licencing authorities and the results adjusted for population. It would be interesting to see if any authorities vary widely from the average.
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The complaint that councillor Akhtar had by his conviction for a serious, violent offence, brought the council into disrepute was brought by the Masbrough TARA and was upheld by the Standards Board. Also regarding his job as a taxi driver, a complaint was made to the Licensing Board concerning his conviction for violent behaviour. The late Councillor Aubrey Senior was the then chair and Akhtar was given a warning regarding his future behaviour. After his term of office expired I beleive he was deselected, this enabled independent Caven Vines to be elected.But Akhtar was re-selected as a Labour candidate when Nazir Ahmed was enobled. I don’t know how true this is, but on querying the re-selection of a convicted violent criminal we were told by a councillor that the reason he had been re-selected was because the selection committee was majority Asian! Oh, and I do agree with Jim Fletcher that he is a notorious race card player.
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Regardless of the political party you may support, I think most people would agree he is an embarrassment to the labour party and given his criminal past and general demeanor, unsuitable to hold any council post. I suggest a petition to have him removed from public office…..
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We should all write to the Home Secretary too to have him removed from the Police & Crime Panel. Currently, it’s like having the fox in charge of the hen house!
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There is no legal reason why he cannot be on the Police and Crime Panel because of the previous conviction. The disgrace is the Labour party’s for putting him forward.
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The Falklands veteran Simon Weston was prevented from standing as a candidate for the P&CC because of a criminal record for a minor offence committed whilst very young and a serving magistrate was also barred from standing because of a trespassing offence 40 years ago! Yet it was stated at his trial that Akhtar was said to have played a “leading role” in kicking and punching innocent diners in a restaurant into needing hospital treatment! He was fortunate not to be imprisoned. Yet he is considered to be a fit person to be on the new Police and crime panel?
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Agree about writing to the Home Secretary and/or a petition to have Akhtar removed from public office.
Does rothpol think that this could be done most effectively as a group ie. followers and contributors of this website that we can all put our names to ? Surely would be better than individuals writing about the issues ?
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Squirm ya muzzie worm, but the hook is set.
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Please excuse my ignorance, but if the use of the word “muzzie” is what I understand it to be then this comment is extremely offensive. The word “muzzie” is frequently used by right wing groups such as the EDL on their forums, to refer to Muslims in a derogatory and offensive manner. If so, I think you comment is bang out of order. However if “muzzie worm” does have some other meaning, other than what I have just referred to, then I apologise for my ignorance.
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It does. Apology accepted!
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