Vandals target councillor

Date published: 15 March 2010

Vandals wrecked four cars belonging to family of Councillor Zulfiqar Ali in a suspected targeted attack.

Now Councillor Zulfiqar Ali is worried the people responsible for causing thousands of pounds worth of damage by pouring paintstripper on the vehicles could escalate the violence.

Rochdale Lib Dem councillor, and current Deputy Mayor, Mr Ali, 44, shares a house in Huddersfield with his wife Shaheen Akhtar, his parents Baghali Ali and Zubaida Bagum, his sister Naila Parvin, brother Zubair and two children Faizan, 11, and Zakiya, seven.

Among the cars damaged were a new £10,300 Toyota Yaris owned by his father, his cousin Nazim Hussain's BMW 735, a VW Golf owned by his other cousin, Shaurkat Ali, and his own Toyota Avensis.

A Ford Mondeo belonging to a neighbour was also damaged, but Mr Ali believes the attacker mistook it for a similar car he used to own.

None of the dozens of other cars on the street have been targeted.

Mr Ali said: "This is a targeted thing. There's only a few people who know which cars belong to us.

"If someone is trying to cause financial problems, you don't know what else they're capable of.

"I have got parents in their late 70s with their own health problems and I'm worried this could erupt into something bigger.

"It's getting to a stage where the police need to get involved."

The incident happened after Mr Ali, who as well as being councillor in Rochdale also works as a taxi driver, returned home at about 12.45am after a night at work.

He was alerted by a neighbour at 3am, who saw the damaged cars.

It follows an incident in October 2009 when a window was smashed at his house in Rochdale on the same night as one was smashed at the house in Huddersfield.