Reform accused of trying to start race row over Pakistan flag
The flag flew for two days in August, and an MP said it was an attempt to "dominate our culture".
Reform accused of trying to start race row over Pakistan flag
Cardiff council said it flew the flag of Pakistan for a day at the city's castle
Reform has been accused by a Tory MS of trying to start a race row after a senior MP criticised Cardiff council for flying a Pakistan flag over the city's castle.
The local authority said it flew the flag for two days in August this year to mark the country's Independence Day.
Social media accounts for Robert Jenrick, the party's economic spokesman, said the act of flying the flag was an "attempt to dominate our culture".
Natasha Asghar, a Welsh Conservative Member of the Senedd, said such ceremonies were not a "takeover" but a form of "respect".
A Reform Wales spokesman said: "No flag other than the Welsh dragon or the Union Flag should fly over our historic landmarks."
Jenrick's Facebook message followed a series of messages from right-wing figures and commentators on X, including Reform Wales' Dan Thomas, on the same subject.
Cardiff Castle has also flown the Pakistan flag in previous years.
Some of the posts, including Thomas's, used an image that was first posted in 2024 by a BBC journalist on 14 August that year, Pakistan's Independence Day.
Jenrick's account reposted a video of an event at Cardiff Castle, where some Senedd members can be seen and where the flag is raised.
He wrote: "Cardiff Castle has the Pakistani flag hoisted over it.
"Why do we allow this attempt to dominate our culture? We now see it everywhere.
"I am sick to death of foreign flags being hoisted above our historic buildings. Under a Reform government this pathetic submission ends and we will reassert our national identity."
Reform Wales had previously objected to the Ukraine flag flying outside the Senedd in Cardiff Bay, citing a similar policy.
Pakistan flags were also flown over the castle in 2024 - this image by a BBC journalist was posted to X on Pakistan Independence day that year
Natasha Asghar's father, the late MS Mohammad Asghar, was born in pre-partition India and grew up in Pakistan.
The MS for Casnewydd Islwyn said: "I have attended many flag hoisting ceremonies for the Indian community, the Pakistan diaspora, the Polish community, and I think they've all been fantastic events, well attended, from people from all different political walks of life.
"I strongly suggest Reform goes to these events to see how integration takes place, and how it's not any form of takeover by any particular community, it's just showing a form of respect to one another.
Asked about the comments about cultural domination, she said: "I'm really fed up of Reform trying to fuel and start a race-row."
"Reform pick up on these little stories to divert the public's attention... [from] negative news stories," she said.
Plaid Westminster leader Liz Saville Roberts added: "After an abysmal conference, Robert Jenrick is reaching for Reform's favourite distraction – stir up division and hope nobody notices the chaos in his own party.
"Welsh identity is not threatened by another nation's flag."
Cardiff council's Labour leader Chris Weaver said: "There was a ceremony held to raise the flag on 9 August, after which the flag flew overnight. It was also flown on 14 August, to mark Pakistan's Independence Day.
"The occasion provided an opportunity to recognise and celebrate the contribution of Pakistani communities to Cardiff's diverse and multicultural city.
"We also did the same on 15 August to mark India's Independence Day."
He added that the flag was flown "as part of the Council's long-standing practice of marking significant dates and occasions. We also fly the flags of Wales and the United Kingdom on the walls of the castle and they were all there on the day in question."
"As one of the city's most prominent civic buildings, Cardiff Castle provides an important and visible way for the capital of Wales to recognise occasions of local, national, and international significance."
He added: "This whole furore has stemmed from misinformation, and it's time for that to stop."
Thomas's X post from Sunday, which included the picture from 2024, said: "Now Labour in Cardiff are flying the Pakistan flag at Cardiff Castle."
No Pakistan flag could be seen at the castle on Monday.
On X, former Conservative leader Andrew RT Davies said: "Did the castle fly the flag this year? If so, whether it's an old photo or not is a moot point, more or less. The more relevant question is whether the council should be flying the flag at all."
BBC Wales asked Reform why Thomas sent a two-year-old photo and used the present tense in his message.
Reform Wales did not address the point in its statement.