Ten of Pakistani origin make it to British parliament
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LONDON: As results came to surface after a historic British election, ten people of Pakistani origin are now members of the House of Commons.
Former Pakistani TV actress Tasmeena Shaikh, representing the Scottish National Party, was elected as an MP with 26,620 votes, reported DawnNews.
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| Tasmeena Shaikh.- DawnNews screengrab |
Yasmin Qureshi of the Labour Party was elected with 20,520 votes from Bolton South East.
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| Yasmin Qureshi.-DawnNews screengrab |
Labour Party’s Naz Shah and Imran Hussain were also elected.
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| Naz Shah.-DawnNews screengrab |
Naz Shah, a 41-year-old disability rights campaigner who beat out her colourful left-wing rival nicknamed “Gorgeous George” Galloway in Bradford West, has an incredible life story of her own. She was brought up in poverty, taken to Pakistan to escape domestic abuse and then forcibly married. Shah's mother ended up killing her abusive partner and going to jail after long suffering in silence.
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| Sadiq Khan.-DawnNews screengrab |
Sadiq Khan of the British Labour Party was elected from Tooting with 25,263 votes.
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| Nusrat Ghani.-DawnNews screengrab |
Manchester's Shabana Mehmood and Khalid Mehmood, Weldone's Conservative candidate Nusrat Ghani, Gillingham and Rainham's Conservative candidate Rehman Chishti and Bromsgrove's Conservative candidate Sajid Javed were also elected.
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| Shabana Mehmood. ─ DawnNews screengrab |
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On DawnNews
Comments (112) Closed
just_someone
May 08, 2015 09:49pm
Great to see so many women on the list.
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ala
May 08, 2015 09:50pm
Big achievement, congratulations to all Pakistan origin MP's
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Muzaffar Ali
May 08, 2015 09:59pm
Success is a Mind Game!
They believed they can do and acted on their belief.
Wonderful.
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Prapur
May 08, 2015 09:59pm
Most of Pakistan origin elected one are from labor party which is in minority & sit in opposition where as Indian origin are from conservative sit in ruling side of David Cameron which India liked.
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AHA
May 08, 2015 09:59pm
Great job. We feel proud.
In the West, one can both be an ordinary, honest person and politician, although I am not suggesting that all politicians in the West are honest.
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Khizr
May 08, 2015 10:06pm
Kudos to UK political system and openness of their democracy that sees beyond race and gender.
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shah
May 08, 2015 10:11pm
Congrats to all these Pakistani origin MP's
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waseemoscow
May 08, 2015 10:14pm
Its great to see these ladies !!!
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Jazib Ghory
May 08, 2015 10:28pm
That is what a real democracy is like. The Pakistani far-right would have you believe other wise, while the truth is out there for you to see. Pakistanis and people of Pakistani origin are becoming MPs in the UK.
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umair
May 08, 2015 10:34pm
Where is "the one" to rule them all :)
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Mark
May 08, 2015 10:39pm
Yes they are Pakistani origin but British Citizen and take oath to safe guard the interest of UK not Pakistan. MPs at this level are only Loyal to UK and have no favor for Pakistan in any case.
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KM
May 08, 2015 11:10pm
Reminds me if a comment I read here by a friend on some topic here on Dawn portal.
Will try to repeat it......."We Pakistanis are great.......outside our country".
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UFO
May 08, 2015 11:18pm
@Mark These MPs care more about Pakistan than any MNAs or MPAs of Pakistan!!
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Mansur Sarwar khan
May 08, 2015 11:30pm
Men& women of pakistani origin winning in UK,prove that its a very talented people if given an opportunity they can rise up to the competitive international standards of excellence in every walk of life.Its introspection time for pakistani leaders to rise up to the requirements of time and liberate this society from darkness born out of greed deceit lust foolhardiness and religious extremism. Good luck to all who won, you make us proud of your sweat toil and talent. Serve your country that has elevated you to respectability. Great UK
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anees from zaida
May 08, 2015 11:30pm
They are just MPs of British Parliament. Doesn't matter if they were born in Pakistan, Mozambique, Peru or Antarctica. No need to be proud about them.
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KhanKPK
May 08, 2015 11:31pm
@Mark you can always work to bring the two countries together and help implement policies that benefit the people of both countries!
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Kaz
May 08, 2015 11:38pm
@Mark Of course they will and we don't expect them to work for Pakistan welfare. We are happy to see MPs in UK from Pakistan origin.
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OZ
May 08, 2015 11:43pm
@Mark , and that is fine with us. but we are still proud of them.
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Woz Ahmed
May 08, 2015 11:49pm
Good to see, specially number of women.
We can really celebrate when we are elected from wards with low population of Pakistanis/Muslims, then we know we are accepted.
Good to see George Galloway out, well done Naz.
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shah
May 08, 2015 11:51pm
@Mark why are you stating the obvious ? This is a celebration of Pakistani-descent MP's only.
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Hasan
May 08, 2015 11:52pm
@Mark Facts indicate that this assumption may be naïve. MP Muhammad Sarwar gave up British nationality to enter Pakistani politics. There is similar possibility about Baroness Saeeda Warsi based on contacts made by her in Pakistan. Lord Nazir Ahmed remains active in both the House of Lords and Pakistani politics.
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khan
May 09, 2015 12:00am
@Mark and same goes for Indian's yes? 11 of them are elected .
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Sami
May 09, 2015 12:00am
Ladies & Gentleman just want to correct Dawn news writer about one of the elected SNP candidate Tasmeena Sheikh . She is not Pakistani .Her Dad is Indian, Mom is Welsh she was born in London and she was raised in Edinburgh .
that's all i want to say
sami
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jagjeet
May 09, 2015 12:07am
ten from india origon.nice.
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Adnan Siddiqui
May 09, 2015 12:09am
9 Pakistanis origin in British Parliament ... that's about 1.5% of overall seats - pretty impressive considering total population of Pakistanis in UK is 1.8% ...
Comparatively, Indians with 2.5+% population also won 9 seats ... plus with one name common to both lists - Sajid Javid - whose father is, according to him, Indian and his mother Pakistani.
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KrishnaKumar
May 09, 2015 12:14am
@Prapur : not again, its about election in UK, not in PAK or India
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KrishnaKumar
May 09, 2015 12:17am
@khan : I think yes, they are citizens of UK, not of India
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matt
May 09, 2015 12:33am
@Sami Correct your facts. Tasmina father was Pakistani and so is her husband.
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Ahmad
May 09, 2015 12:58am
@just_someone - one of predictions of the time of Hour.
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Rafi Ka Deewana
May 09, 2015 01:03am
10 Indians, 9 Pakistanis, and 3 Bangladeshis. Now it's India (pre-independence) which will be ruling over England.
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joe
May 09, 2015 01:06am
Can I say
It is not Pakistani men
But Pakistani women
Who fair better all across
Just count how many in nine
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Rosetto
May 09, 2015 01:17am
@Prapur Looks like you have forgotten our Saeeda Warsi from Conservative Party who held important posts in the previous Gov. of PM Cameron. Apart from her there are other British Pakistanis also in the party. Gloating all the time and harping your own tune is not a good thing Prapur. I've heard that Indians are humble in nature. Perhaps that generation has passed whose hallmark was humility.
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Quraishi
May 09, 2015 01:19am
Please add the tenth MP to your list:
Mr Rehman Chishti Incumbent MP re-elected from Gillingham with over 22,000 votes for the conservative party.
A very able MP who has served his constituents since 2010.
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Nilesh
May 09, 2015 01:31am
Ask all of them to come back to pakistan, Pakistan needs them more right now...
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Sethietthi
May 09, 2015 01:33am
@Rafi Ka Deewana correction, the sub-continent.
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AH Khan
May 09, 2015 01:37am
Congratulation all Pakistani who Von the UK election 2015 .
Abdul Hameed Khan
Karachi
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Mateen
May 09, 2015 01:38am
And we call them racists and imperialists
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SALMAN
May 09, 2015 02:05am
@Prapur , this makes it a bigger achievement, to go against the status quo. Don't always try to find negative from any news coming out from Pakistan, you will be healthier.
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commonsense
May 09, 2015 02:11am
Congratulations to all winners . Pray that they can fulfill their constituents aspirations.
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Rafi Ka Deewana
May 09, 2015 02:13am
@Sethietthi - It's playing with the words. England ruled over India, now India is ruling over them. Notice "Pre-independence".
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Waqar Yaqub
May 09, 2015 02:17am
@Mark
Mark you are right and they shouldn't.
I am Muslim first, then British who is of Pakistani ethnic origin. So my love for my country starts with Britain always and will remain the same for these elected MPs.
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Firdaous
May 09, 2015 02:24am
They are British. Can we Pakistanis from Pakistan leave CITIZENS of another country alone please? Especially if they are members of the other country's government. Thank you all.
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NT
May 09, 2015 02:44am
On the contrary Pakistan needs to become an open society, appreciate diversity and pluralism and give the same opportunities to the minorities to advance. This is the only way forward for Pakistan if it wants to become a progressive nation. However, there is no hope from the current leadership in Pakistan.
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Madan
May 09, 2015 03:10am
This is positive for Pakistan in general and Pakistani women in particular.Women in Pakistan should also show a similar picture of their achievement in the country's parliament.
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Vorshal
May 09, 2015 03:48am
@just_someone - Great! They possibly could not have done in their own country! The are now British!
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anony
May 09, 2015 03:55am
Congrats to all these candidates. Now please serve your community well and don't forget your roots please.
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Sami
May 09, 2015 03:57am
@Prapur "Most of Pakistan origin elected one are from labor party which is in minority & sit in opposition where as Indian origin are from conservative sit in ruling side of David Cameron which India liked"... Thank you for the info... I haven't verified what you state, but what's your point?
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Sami
May 09, 2015 03:58am
You are awesome ladies!!!
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Sami
May 09, 2015 04:02am
@Mark "Yes they are Pakistani origin but British Citizen and take oath to safe guard the interest of UK not Pakistan. MPs at this level are only Loyal to UK and have no favor for Pakistan in any case"... We get it Mark and that's how it should be. Still, it makes us damn proud!
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Sami
May 09, 2015 04:07am
@Mansur Sarwar khan "Men& women of pakistani origin winning in UK,prove that its a very talented people if given an opportunity they can rise up to the competitive international standards of excellence in every walk of life.Its introspection time for pakistani leaders to rise up to the requirements of time and liberate this society from darkness born out of greed deceit lust foolhardiness and religious extremism. Good luck to all who won, you make us proud of your sweat toil and talent. Serve your country that has elevated you to respectability. Great UK"... I couldn't have said it better.
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mba
May 09, 2015 04:34am
This is democracy. Can we imagine a foreign person to be elected in our parlament? I see people of Pakistani origin winning seats even for conservative party. I hope, our progresssive parties would be atleast as "progressive" as the conservatives of the UK in near future.
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Javaid Bashir
May 09, 2015 04:36am
`Congratulations to all the Pakistani origin candidates on their election as member of the British Parliament. It shows that Pakistani community is active in British politics and made a space for themselves within the democratic system.
The colored Asians are accepted by the whites also. A dynamic change in the political outlook of the nation. it is a tribute to the foreign origin candidates' participation in the mainstream politics.
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Javaid Bashir
May 09, 2015 04:44am
@Sami Good input . we stand corrected. after all she is an Asian and colored woman. She haser shed the negative image of Asians painted by the prejudicial people , who judge the people by color or race of the individual.
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anwar
May 09, 2015 04:44am
Congratulations to all of them. Great name for Pakistan.
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jawad
May 09, 2015 05:13am
Wow most are women...Pakistani women can change the image of pakistan in no time. I'm proud of my brave pakistani women
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Raja Farhat Abbas
May 09, 2015 06:06am
@Sami Don't mislead people her father was a Punjabi Pakistani. Her father was also the first Asian councillor elected in Scotland in 1986 for the New Town/Stockbridge ward on Lothian Regional Council, representing the Conservative Party. Her mother was half-Welsh and half-Czech.!
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Syed Ali
May 09, 2015 06:18am
@Prapur In USA there are two Governors from India; but they both are from republican party, not from President Obama's democratic party. In democracies governments oscillates between parties. Congratulation to Pakistani origin MP's.
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Syed Ali
May 09, 2015 06:22am
It is interesting majority are women.
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mabob
May 09, 2015 06:41am
A moment of alert. History may repeat itself in more civilized and peaceful way.
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M. Emad
May 09, 2015 08:15am
Three of Bangladeshi origin make it to British parliament.
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citizen
May 09, 2015 08:16am
Hope they will use their good offices to extend the influence of Pakisthan in UK
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anwar siddique
May 09, 2015 08:26am
Would a Christian,Hindu or Ahmedia get this type of support in Pakistan? I ask not to attempt to "shame" but to get people thinking. There are many reason the West is a prosperous and a great place to live and one of them is tolerance....
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Asim Munir
May 09, 2015 08:32am
Thanks to real democratic system to provide them a fair opportunity, otherwise, they would be no body in Pakistan.
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imran
May 09, 2015 09:01am
Alhamduallah Pakistani community isgrowing but now they owe a lot to Pakistan and time has come to give back to the community and your country
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imran
May 09, 2015 09:02am
@Prapur atleat they are there and if not then these seats would be with conservative
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Yaar Nawab
May 09, 2015 09:07am
@Mark OK so?
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ashraf
May 09, 2015 09:15am
Congratulations .
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SRIDHAR RAGHUNATHA RAO
May 09, 2015 09:31am
I am very much delighted to note that six of the nine elected are women.
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Sohail
May 09, 2015 09:59am
Kudos to the leadership skills of Pakistani women.
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Prayandprey!
May 09, 2015 11:10am
@waseemoscow : WHY?
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RAVI ANAND KALE
May 09, 2015 12:12pm
Congratulations!!! These British Citizens of the sub-continent origin made all of us proud.
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RAVI ANAND KALE
May 09, 2015 12:23pm
@Mark Congratulations!!! These British Citizens of the Sub-Continent origin has made all of us proud. So many of them are Women, it is another achievement! Let us hope all of them excel and bring glory to the Sub-Continent.
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SANJEEV KUMAR YADAV
May 09, 2015 01:08pm
They will be loyal to UK.
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Gypsy
May 09, 2015 01:27pm
Great to see the positive contribution of Pakistanis in British Society. Congratulations to all elected, and please do keep it up and show the world the real and positive side of Pakistan
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asim
May 09, 2015 01:32pm
They wom from constituencies with large Pakistani migrants. They will neber win from white majority constituencies.
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Ali shahzad
May 09, 2015 01:40pm
I am glade to know, that, nine pakistanis are representing their comunity/country, and they proved that they can able to rule. Glorious
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sabiha
May 09, 2015 01:45pm
@anwar siddique Why not. Remember Bhagvan Das, Cecil Chaudhary etc. If they go into politics, public will accept them. Asian countries have so little immigrants so we dont see many of them at big places. Didn't we give enough respect to Anne Marie Schimill and Alice Faiz etc. we must have voted them if they chose politics
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ABL
May 09, 2015 02:11pm
The home ground is not fertile for acclaimed talent of people of Pakistan origin, hence they are showing in other countries in almost every fields, just few get media attention, such as politics, cricket, artists, medical, engineering, social and community development, and many many more
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Haider Rehman
May 09, 2015 02:16pm
@Prapur
Where did India come into this? Congrats to India BTW.
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Imran
May 09, 2015 02:20pm
@asim "They wom from constituencies with large Pakistani migrants. They will neber win from white majority constituencies." All of them have won from constituencies having white majority population. You can check the stats yourself. When people vote for a party they don't care what colour skin the candidate has.
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Guest65
May 09, 2015 02:34pm
In My humble Opinion , Once they have taken Oath of allegiance to the Queen ( i.e singing also the national anth God saves the Queen ) , there is nothing left in them to be called a Pakistani even if they were born there or had Pakistani Parents , They are in all essence and reality , a British unless they revoke their allegiance and regain their Pakistani origin , there is no difference between George Galloway or Naz Shah from that aspect hence Nothing to celeberate for us Pakistanis ....
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IMRAN ALI
May 09, 2015 02:35pm
EYE OPENER for PTI Government in KPP FOR NOT ALLOWING WOMEN TO CAST VOTE IN THE RECENT BYE ELECTION HELD IN DIR....
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COLIN
May 09, 2015 02:37pm
@Sethietthi
ALL WESTERN TEXTBOOKS REFER TO THIS
GEOGRAPHICAL AREA as THE INDIAN SUB-CONTINENT
AND THE INDIAN OCEAN AS THE 3RD LARGEST OCEAN
IN THE WORLD.
YOU WILL JUST NEED TO SWALLOW THAT !
btw,your name--SETHI-- is of INDIAN not ARAB,
PERSIAN,AFGHAN or TURKISH ORIGIN !!!!!
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IMRAN ALI
May 09, 2015 02:42pm
@sami...it is not true... SNP candidate Tasmeena Sheikh..... Her mother is half-Welsh and half-Czech... and her father was a Pakistani.[1] Her father was also the first Asian councillor elected in Scotland in 1986 for the New Town/Stockbridge ward..Wikipedia ..dawn reporter is correct
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Ayaz
May 09, 2015 03:31pm
But in Pakistan minorities are killed and have no rights. Pakistani need to learn from the rest of the world some morals. Just being a Muslim is not enough.
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Saifqureshi
May 09, 2015 03:45pm
@Mark just do the right please we do not need favor Up hold the name PAKISTAN that all we need from you all Wish you all the best
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Raja Farhat Abbas
May 09, 2015 03:48pm
@Ayaz It not as bad as you are trying to make it out to be , you need to be truthful and learn some morals, be honest and don't defame a whole nation because of a few incidents.!
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Akram
May 09, 2015 04:14pm
We need more than this, Pakistanis can have more representation in parliament, provided more of us seek it. Representation in the 2 main parties is especially important, it seems that is where most Pakistanis have gone.
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Akram
May 09, 2015 04:14pm
@Prapur
there are 3 Conservative Pakistanis actually.
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moe
May 09, 2015 04:24pm
For GODS sake get it they're all BRITISH. Now repeat after me they are British.
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M Akram
May 09, 2015 04:48pm
It all sounds very nice on the face of it - their were also men and woman of Pakistani origin contesting election on UKIP ticket - UKIP being a hard anti immigrant party.
I am sorry to say most of these MPs will have jolly trips to Pakistan and even invited to the President House in Pakistan and so on. But the acid test will be as to how many will stand up and be counted when Britain goes in next for a regime change in a Muslim country and in the process end up killing many thousands of innocent men, women, children, old and young. Brutal and horrible murder of Col. Kadafi in Libya comes to mind - and bombing of Libya was happily supported by these so called MPs from Pakistani origin - both Tory and Labour.
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M Akram
May 09, 2015 04:57pm
@Akram Oh I say old boy! all three have extreme right wing and fascists views. What a jolly good show eh I mean 3 brownees out of 332 Tory MPs is going places. What a load of tripe.
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shereen
May 09, 2015 04:58pm
What's the point here? these are British people elected to serve their country. Hows being Pak origin relevant?
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Sandeep
May 09, 2015 05:04pm
10 Indians, 10 Pakistanis, and 3 Bangladeshis. Dude! Let us together reverse history and rule England.
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MUHAMMAD KHAN
May 09, 2015 05:15pm
Great Job Ladies. You made us proud Pakistani.
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Rosetto
May 09, 2015 05:39pm
@Prapur have you forgotten Saeeda Warsi, British Pakistani who held key posts in the previous Conservative gov.
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karr
May 09, 2015 05:48pm
My respect for Labor party greatly decreased after one Mr. Tony Blair became the PM.
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muzafar
May 09, 2015 05:48pm
Secular country, no doubt they don,t see origin of anyone!
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Thinker
May 09, 2015 05:50pm
So many Pakistani almost 10,Time to get worried UK..Something is wrong
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Shaista Khan
May 09, 2015 06:32pm
Shows how great Pakistanis are!
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Raja Farhat Abbas
May 09, 2015 06:39pm
@moe Yes of course they are Brits of Pakistani heritage.!! now you repeat this after me !
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T.M.Syed
May 09, 2015 06:53pm
Let's give credit where credit is due. Had they committed a crime, their ethnicity would have been broadcasted all over. We should therefore be proud of individuals from Pakistani origin when they achieve something positive whether they are in UK, USA, or elsewhere.
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Faceless
May 09, 2015 07:26pm
Pakistanis or not, they are minorities and they have done well for themselves. Congratts to the winners and the nation of England!
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T.M. Reddy
May 09, 2015 07:31pm
This thumping up women results of Pakistan origin is great news. The liberal views of Muslim women now revealed. Let it be known to the other parts of so called Islamic world.
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ahmed-UK
May 09, 2015 07:45pm
Pakistanis are involved at every level of politics in UK and western Europe. There are many councillors and MPs in UK but unfortunately they all work for their own benefits. I have experienced Imran Hussain in Bradford and Ms Sayeeda Warsi in Dewsbury, UK. They just talk but never deliver any thing practical. Unemployment is high in Pakistani areas of UK but these politicians even have not done anything to deal with problems i.e. establish a charity to train youngsters and get them off the road. Whats the use of having these politicians who cant resolve our problems.
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saadia Usman
May 09, 2015 08:14pm
nice to know that Pakistanis are active in british politics. this is the only way they will acquire influence
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NASR
May 09, 2015 08:44pm
@Sami Tasmeena Shaikh is of Pakistani Origin. Her father a Pakistani was also the first Asian councillor elected in Scotland in 1986 . She is also Married to a Pakistani Zulfikar Sheikh and is a mother of 4 children. She and her husband both have worked in a Drama series for Pakistan TV.
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Nads
May 09, 2015 08:45pm
These elected members of UK parliament are not there to do any favors to any country, they are there to serve the legitimate interests of the people of the UK. That is what the politicians in Pakistan must also do to serve the people of Pakistan and not please the outside world. Respect your own country and own people and be proud.
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g umesh
May 09, 2015 09:08pm
Great news in the backdrop of the news that some where in Pakistan women did not vote.This establishes the capacity of the women of the subcontinent if groomed properly.On the contrary,Sheikh Mujib ur Rehman was not allowed to assume power when his party had the majority.Therefore Pakistan has along way to go anywhere near the western standards in secularism , gender equality .
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Syed Hassan Naqvi
May 09, 2015 09:25pm
I m pretty sure they would be serving British interests as they should be, so why all this fuss?
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zahidali219
May 09, 2015 09:34pm
The real outcome of democracy
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IMRAN ALI
May 09, 2015 09:38pm
A record number of 42 non white MPs are elected ,many from white majority area..
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