Muzaffarabad: Six Pakistan administered Kashmir-origin persons are among 10 Pakistanis who were elected to British parliament in May 7 election.
Four of these were Labour candidates and the two candidates of the Conservative party which emerged successful.
Khalid Mahmood, a Mirpur-born Labour party candidate defended his seat from Birmingham the third time, while Shabana Mahmood and Atta-ur-Rehman Chishti won Birmingham and Gillingham-Rainham seats.
Naseem Shah, a woman candidate of Labor party from Bradford, hails from Chaksawari area of Mirpur and Imran Hussain and Nusrat Ghani who made their entry into the world’s oldest parliament for the first time from Bradford and Wealden constituencies are also Mirpur.
In 2010 elections, only three expatriates from PaK had been elected.
There are 800,000 Kashmiri expatriates in the UK, a majority of them from Mirpur and its surrounding areas.
The labour party candidates of Kashmiri origin have won from the areas where expatriates are in a majority, while conservative candidates have won from English constituencies where expatriate population is nominal.
The ruling conservative party had issued 36, the highest number, of tickets for May 7 elections to Asian candidates while labour party awarded 35.
The victory of six Kashmir-born candidates is being celebrated back at home. Greeting messages are being exchanged with the relatives and friends of winners and special ceremonies are also being arranged at their ancestral homes in their native town in Muzaffarabad and Mirpur to celebrate the victory.
PaK prime minister Choudhary Abdul Majeed, former prime minister Sardar Attique Ahmed Khan, minister for education schools Mian Abdul Waheed and minister colleges Matloob Inqalabi have greeted the newly-elected MPs.