The tally of Pakistani MPs to the 650-member House of Commons doubled in one of the closest and tense elections in decades which delivered a hung parliament and a completely new political landscape.

After an inconclusive general election that threw up the Conservatives as the largest party in a hung parliament, the Tory and Labour leaders have both unveiled deals of a governing partnership to their Liberal Democrat counterpart. All parties were engaged in backdoor talks to iron out some workable formulas after the incumbent Labour got drubbing all across the land. The Liberal Democrats failed to make any gains and didn’t live up to the expectations created by media hype after Nick Clegg performed well in the televised debates.

The total number of African, Asian and Caribbean candidates elected to the Westminster doubled from 14 to 27. There Muslim women MPs were elected on Labour seats in a historic progress but there were upsets too as at least three candidates came close to winning but lost because mainly because of the friction caused by tribalism within the Pakistani community.

Shabana Mahmood, who replaced the former International Development Secretary Clare Short who famously resigned over Iraq War, has been elected as a Birmingham Ladywood MP by increasing the Labour vote to more than 10,000.

Yasim Qureshi, 46, a Pakistani-born criminal barrister, won from Bolton South East with a reduced Labour majority of more than 8,600 and Bangladeshi origin Rushanra Ali defeated a strong challenge from both Respect candidate Abjol Miah and Liberal Democrat candidate Ajmal Masroor.

Shahid Malik, the former Labour MP and Former Communities Minister, failed to win re-election with 17,372 votes and lost his seat to Tory Simon Reevell who gained the seat with 18,898 votes. The vote of Pakistani community in Malikís Dewsbury constituency was bitterly divided and effectively led to his downfall.

Maryam Khan from Manchester North lost by over 2,000 votes. Salma Yaqoob from Respect Party standing in Birmingham Hall Green won an impressive 12,240 votes—or 25.1 per cent—but Labour won the seat.

Two Pakistani origin Conservatives candidates comfortably won the seats in a historic breakthrough for Conservatives by becoming the first Muslim Tories. Pakistani-origin candidate Rehman Chishti, a close associate of the murdered former Pakistani prime minister Benazir Bhutto, won newly-created Gillingham and Rainham in south-east England for Conservatives. Sajid Javid won Bromsgrove for Conservatives with an increased majority of more than 11,000.

Sadiq Khan, Labour’s MP from Tooting and first ever Asian to attend the British cabinet as the Transport Minister, retained his seat for Tooting but with a reduced majority of 2,500 votes. Khalid Mahmood MP was also successfully defended his parliamentary seat for Labour in Birmingham Perry Bar by increasing his majority to more than 11,000.

Britain’s first Pakistani MP Muhammad Sarwar’s son Anas Sarwar succefuly defended Glasgow Central for Labour by increasing his majority to nearly 16,000. Muhammad Sarwar, a business magnate from Faisalabad first became the MP in 1997 but decided to step down this year, clearing way for his son.

One of the most assuring moment of the election night came when the British National Party Leader Nick Griffin, arguably Britain’s biggest Islamophobe and racist, was defeated comprehensively by Labour’s Margaret Hodge, who increased her vote massively, in Barking and Dagenham constituency. Griffin’s convincing defeat has been hailed by all faith groups as well as the major Westminster parties because of the BNP’s policies on race hatred and Islamophobia.

In what will come as a great comfort to Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaaf chief Imran Khan, his former wife’s brother Zac Goldmith won the prize seat of posh Richmond Park from Liberal Democrat incumbent MP Susan Kramer. Khan took special interest in his younger brother’s campaign and made trips to London to speak to local Asian, Muslim community and asked mosque-goes to vote for his former wifeís millionaire younger brother because of his principled politics. On the campaign trail, Khan was joined by the whole rich Goldmsith clan, including his former wife and celebrity socialite Jemima Khan.

Sayeeda Warsi, the show Minister for Community Cohesion and David Cameron’s top adviser, hailed the election of record Asian and Muslims women and said:

This was a historic moment. She said it should be clear in everyone’s mind now that David Cameron was sincere when he said that the Conservatives will change and will reflect the true Britain that it is today.

I am thrilled that ethnic minority members of Asian, African and Pakistan backgrounds have won from Conservative seats. She said the message of the election was clear that the electorate want parties to work together in national interests but it was also clear that they had no appetite for Labour’s rule anymore.

Equality campaigners hailed the breakthrough results for Muslims and ethnic minorities. Simon Wooley, a top Commission for Racial Equality officer, said it was a historic day or black and Asian communities as they had made breakthrough with two main political parties. He told The News that no government can ignore the concerns of our communities. We can now build political gains and demand greater racial justice, he said.

Ashok Viswanathan, the deputy director of influential Operation Black Vote (OBV) said the results were a major progress for ethnic representation. He said the election of Muslim women will dispel the propaganda that Muslims imprison their women. When our communities look at the new parliament, they will see themselves in it. It will send out a positive message to the ethnic communities and will inspire young Muslims and others to take part in democratic process and will take them away from the path of criminality and extremism.

The Muslim Council of Britain said this election has proven to be a milestone for Britain’s Muslims, who have confounded critics to take part in our democratic culture in even greater numbers.

Dr Muhammad Abdul Bari, Secretary General of the Muslim Council of Britain said:

At this stage, it is time we applaud all those who have won seats, and commiserate with those who were not as successful. Yet with such large turnouts reported, this is a success for all of us and our democratic culture.

It is time to also to reflect on the message from the electorate. With no decisive result, we hope our leaders will use this opportunity to change and revitalise our politics. We pray that our leaders make wise choices in the formation of a new government for the national interest.

Source: The News