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

The draft was introduced in the house early this year by then information minister Sherry Rehman, who won special plaudits from both sides of the house during speeches after the bill. The bill which was already approved by a 16-member standing committee on law with Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani cited as its minister-in-charge was passed without a debate.

Some members from the both treasury and opposition benches voiced fears about the possibility of misuse of the new law, particularly in rural areas to settle scores. However, some others dismissed such concerns and called for an effective implementation, possibly with amendments in other relevant law and rules governing police.

A statement of objects and reasons accompanying the new bill states that:

Harassment is one of the most common issues faced by the women of Pakistan. They face intimidation in the marketplace, in buses, at bus stops and at workplace.

This amendment will not only make public and work environment safer for women but will open up the path for more women to pursue livelihood with dignity. It will reduce poverty as more and more women will get the courage to enter the job market.

The Criminal Law (Amendment) Bill amends both the Pakistan Penal Code and the Code of Criminal Procedure, increasing the punishment for the crime to up to three years in prison and a fine of up to Rs500,000 from up to one year and unspecified fine already provided in the PPC for a vague ‘insult (to) the modesty of a woman’.

The Bill must be passed by the Pakistan Senate as well to become law.

The Muslim Canadian Congress consider burka a security risk as mentioned in the statement:

not only is the wearing of a face-mask a security hazard and has led to a number of bank heists in Canada and overseas, the burka or niqab are political symbols of Saudi inspired Islamic extremism.

The Muslim Canadian Congress further states:

if there is any doubt about the religiosity of the burka, one should take a look at the holiest place for Muslims the grand mosque in Mecca. For over 1,400 years, Muslim men and women have prayed in what we believe is the House of God, and for all these centuries, female visitors have been explicitly prohibited from covering their faces.

The communication director of MCC , Farzana Hassan said

Islamists are defending the burka as if it was the central pillar of Islam. They consider Muslim women who do not cover their heads and faces–the vast majority — as sinners or lesser Muslims. It is of utmost impritance that the Canadian government take the lead and end this medieval misogynist practice once and for all.

First of all I would thank Muslim Canadian Congress for bringing up this important issue bringing to the Canadian government as it will not only resolve any issues and problems which the Muslims are facing in Canada but also will allow MCC to label themselves as liberal Muslims.

MCC has mentioned the praying of Muslim women in Grand Masjid without covering the the face. Just a reminder that Muslim men also don’t wear any sown clothes during the Hajj period as well. Those conditions are only for a specific period of time and to perform Hajj. I think that using those particular conditions should not be quoted for a general situation.

It is true that covering of Muslim women’s face has nothing to do with Islam and it is totally part of some cultural traditions.  Islam does provide dress code for men and women and as long they both follow the dress guidelines, there is no question of sin or being lesser Muslims.

It would have been more convincing if MCC could provide the statistical details to back their point that burka is security hazard. Can MCC quote how many such incidents occurred in Canada during the last 10 years?

Using a general terminology of Islamists trying to turn the clock backward is also insulting to majority of the Canadian Muslims.  My observation in Canada is that less than 1% of the all Muslim women wear burka or niqab. Honestly I hardly see any women on streets of Canadian cities walking with niqab or burka.  There are other greater issues which Muslims as well as other Canadians are facing these days of economical recession. However, MCC found this issue to be the utmost importance that it asks Canadian government to pass legislature to ban the use of burka or niqab.  By taking such extremist stand on burka or niqab, MCC is standing side by side with other Islamist extremists.

Dalia Mogahed is a senior analyst and executive director of the Gallup Center for Muslim Studies. In an interview with Saudi-owned Al Arabiya satellite news channel, she said, “My work focuses on studying Muslims, the way they think and their views. Then I should tell the president about their problems and needs, especially that lately Muslims have been perceived as a source of problems and as incapable of taking part in solving international problems and that they should work on themselves. Now we want to say that Muslims are capable of providing solutions.”

Dalia Mogahed moved to United States about 30 years ago from Egypt. She has always maintained that her loyality goes first to United States. I beleive she is absolutely right in doing so. A person should be loyal to her/his place habitat in all deeds and actions.

Congratulations to Dalia Mogahed for her appointment as advisor. I would like to wish her all the best and hope that she will do her best in her new role and pointing out the porblems faced by Muslims and resolving those issues.

The woman police officer has filed a formal complainted against the policeman. It will be interesting to see what will be the outcome of the complaint.

The women police officers were graduated on March 25, 2009 and have been facing such problems since then. One Ministry of Interior (MoI) official has been quoated saying that the ministry is considering the options of paying female officers an additional KD 50 on top of their wages for every salute which male colleagues refuse to give them or imposing administrative penalties on the male police officers in question.

Source:gulfnews

She further said, “It was then I realised the need to be a designer for the modern Muslim woman, especially because there weren’t any designers catering especially to our needs to dress modestly and yet stylishly”. She was refering to the time after she started wearing hijab. The full interview was published by Gulfnews. She has won few awards in fasion designing.

Dr. Fehmida Mirza, Pakistan National Assembly Speaker, is inspecting the guard of honour during the first ever Women’s Passing out Parade of the Pakistan Rangers on October 25, 2008 in Lahore, Pakistan.

Muslim women are not just stay at home women as portrayed in media by choosing to show picutres of muslim women completely covered in burqa, they are also participate in every walk of life.

Women felt elated and people generally hailed as Pakistan had its first ever woman Speaker of the National Assembly. Born on December 20, 1956 in Karachi, Dr. Fehmida Mirza took over the chair from outgoing Speaker Chaudhry Amir Hussain after her election by overwhelming two-third majority in the secret ballot.

An agriculturist and business woman by profession, Dr. Fehmida Mirza is also a medical graduate, having obtained MBBS degree from Liaquat Medical College, Jamshoro in 1982. 

She won National Assembly seat thrice in a row in general elections held in 1997, 2002 and 2008. A respected figure in Pakistan People’s Party, Dr. Fehmida is wife of one of Asif Ali Zardari’s closest friends, Dr. Zulfikar Ali Mirza. She is sister of former MNA Qazi Asad Abid. A shrewd political activist, she had been a staunch PPP loyalist and remained steadfast during the party’s difficult times in her decade-long political career.

Source: Associated Press of Pakistan

Souce: Jang

Namira Saleem is based in Southern France and undergoing training in the United States for a space flight scheduled within the next couple of years. In the picture she is hoisting Pakistani and UAE Falgs at South Pole.