Pakistan-origin British MP makes history by taking oath in Urdu

A Pakistan-origin British MP, Nusrat Munir ul Ghani, who retained her constituency in the recent general elections, surprised everyone by taking her oath in Urdu.

“Oath proudly taken in both English and Urdu to honour my mum,” she wrote on Twitter. The Conservative Party MP retained her Wealden constituency securing 61.2 per cent of the total votes. She won the seat with a majority of over 24, 000.

https://youtu.be/NMELp9UULeI

https://twitter.com/Nus_Ghani/status/875357212947992576

Ghani is one of the twelve British-Pakistanis who won the June 8 snap general elections. Among the winners, nine belong to Labour Party while the other three represent the Conservative party. Around 30 Pakistan-origin candidates had contested the elections.

Ghani made news after she proposed a bill to ban the term “honour killing” in official publications as it was being used by abusers as “pathetic self-justification” for their violence. “Language matters,” she had told the Commons in January this year.

“The use of the term ‘honour’ to describe a violent criminal act – sometimes committed against a man, but more often against a woman – can be explained only as a means of self-justification for the perpetrator. It diminishes the victim and provides a convenient excuse for what in our society we should accurately and simply call murder, rape, abuse or enslavement,” she was quoted as saying by BBC.

Nusrat's Twitter was loaded with congratulations with people lauding her for making history by taking oath in her native language:

https://twitter.com/parveendusanj/status/875388947798556672

https://twitter.com/MarkGWeaver/status/875397996120346625

https://twitter.com/TomTugendhat/status/875487690992611330

https://twitter.com/Parlez_me_nTory/status/875363519105036292

https://twitter.com/sunny_hundal/status/875362101707116544

https://twitter.com/SocialistSki/status/875364940726587392

https://twitter.com/atjd4/status/875363125826072577

Nusrat was very responsive to the congratulatory tweets and even responded by thanking them for their kind words.