GUJRAT: The newly-elected member of the British parliament, Yasmin Qureshi, belongs to Gujrat city from where her family migrated to England around four decades ago.

Ms Qureshi was born here on July 5, 1963. Her family resided in Hayatul Nabi locality of the city.

Following June 8 UK election results, the residents of the locality celebrated Ms Qureshi’s victory by distributing sweets.

Some of the residents told the media that she had visited her native town in April last when her mother had died and was laid to rest in a local graveyard. During her visit, they said, she had urged the locals to pray for her victory.

Shoaib Asghar Butt, a resident of the area, told Dawn that during his visit to the UK in May last, he also visited the British parliament on the invitation of Ms Qureshi.

Elected from Bolton South for the second consecutive time as a Labour party candidate by securing 60.7pc (25,676) of the votes cast in her constituency, she beat Conservative party’s Sarah Pochin (12,550 votes) and UKIP candidate Jeff Armstrong (2,779 votes).

Ms Qureshi had earlier been elected as British MP in 2015 as Labour party candidate.

Four women of Pakistani origin have been elected to British parliament from the platform of Labour party in the recent polls.

Published in Dawn, June 11th, 2017