THE Muslim community is celebrating Eid Milad Ul Nabi, marking the birthday this week, in accordance with the Islamic calendar, of the holy prophet Mohammed (peace be upon him).

The Jamia Mosque in Jubilee Road will host a special session on Sunday, after the annual march through the streets of High Wycombe by the Muslim community, which will start at noon at the Mosque.

The participants will return to the Mosque by 'Zhur' prayers at 2pm and then have a chance to listen to a number of speakers, including Sahibzada Ghulam Jeelani, Imam of the Jamia Mosque, Maulana (religious scholar) Qamar-uz-Zaman Azmi and Zafar Mahmood Frashvi from Manchester, among others, who will, through their talks, throw light on the life and character of the holy prophet. The gathering will be served the usual tasty meals from the 'langar' blessed food, donated by local businesses.

THE Prime Minister of Azad Kashmir, Sultan Mahmood Chaudhry, found time from his own Assembly election campaign in Azad Kashmir to come to Britain for a few days to observe the general election and to show solidarity with candidates who are prepared to support the struggle for self determination by the people of Kashmir, two-thirds of which has been under Indian occupation since 1947, while he is the Prime Minister of the rest, called Azad or Free Kashmir.

Barrister Sultan Mahmood Chaudhry has paid flying visits to most areas with large numbers of Kashmiri origin people.

He also made a brief stop in High Wycombe on Tuesday and met community leaders at a small gathering hosted by Chaudhry Allah-Ditta, a local businessman and personal friend of the PM.

The Azad Kashmir PM hoped that Chaudhry Shafique, the Labour candidate in the election, would gain the support of all the Kashmiri people as well as the other communities to bring a welcome change to the politics of this country.

BY the time you read this we should have discovered the name of our new Member of Parliament.

By most accounts large chunks of the electorate have found the election second only to a good sedative, which may be true, nevertheless I think the people who have been running around delivering leaflets, organising meetings and shepherding candidates, from all parties, deserve our collective thanks for at least trying to play the democratic game.

Well done to all the candidates for trying to get their point of view across, without resorting to personal attacks and pointless accusations, which seem to have marred the elections in some other areas.

I should also like to thank all the candidates for willingly recording their ten-minute interviews with me for the listeners of the Asian language programme Mehfil on Wycombe Radio 1170AM. Congratulations to the winner and heartfelt commiseration to the rest.