Ashraf Choudhary

Mohammed Ashraf Choudhary, QSO, (born 15 February 1949) is a member of Parliament in New Zealand. He is a member of the Labour Party, and is New Zealand's first MP from the Indian sub-continent. He and his wife Samina (born in Lahore, Pakistan) have three children.

Choudhary was born in the Pakistani half of the Punjab region. His family were farmers, though not poor. He attended high school in the town of Sialkot, and then gained a degree in agricultural engineering in Faisalabad. He continued his studies abroad, gaining a master's degree at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne, England] and a PhD at Massey University, New Zealand. He has published a large number of scientific papers in his field, and is considered to be an international authority on conservation tillage. His work has a particular focus on agricultural techniques in developing countries. He worked at Massey University from 1976 to 2002.

Before entering Parliament, Choudhary had worked with a number of community organizations, including such groups as the New Zealand Federation of Ethnic Councils and FIANZ - the Federation of Islamic Associations of New Zealand (of which he was president in 1984-85). In his capacity as president of FIANZ he oversaw the first annual halal meat contract with the New Zealand Meat Producers Board in June 1984, with the aid of Mazhar Krasniqi, Hajji Abdul Rahim Rasheed and Dr. Mohammad Hanif Quazi.

He was awarded a QSO for his community work in 2001.

Having been a supporter of the Labour Party for some time, Choudhary was elected to Parliament as a Labour Party list MP in the 2002 elections. He was sworn in on the Qur'an, something which Winston Peters (leader of the New Zealand First party) criticised as a breach of proper procedure. The rules, however, contained no prohibition against it, allowing the taker of the oath to specify any religious text they wished (or, alternatively, use none at all). Because Parliamentary officials did not have a copy of the Qu'ran, they obtained a copy from the FIANZ office, which was then donated to the Parliamentary Library for use in the future.

Since entering Parliament, Choudhary has served on the Primary Production, Local Government and Environment, and Education and Science select committees. He also came to public attention in 2003, when he abstained in a vote to legalize prostitution (the only MP to do so). If he had voted against the change, it would have failed, and some people (including most prominent members of the Muslim community) blame him for the bill's success.

Choudhary once again came to the attention of the Muslim community in December 2004, when he announced his intention to vote in favour of the deeply controversial Civil Union legislation. Choudhary remarked that "if the law allows one minority group in our society to be discriminated against then all minorities are vulnerable".

In July 2005 Choudhary was in hot water again when he refused to condemn outright the practice of stoning people for homosexual and extramarital sexual behaviour. In TV3's 60 Minutes show in July 4, 2005, Dr. Choudhary was asked: "Are you saying the Qu'ran is wrong to recommend that gays in certain circumstances be stoned to death?" He replied: " No, no. Certainly what the Qu'ran says is correct." He then qualified his statement, "In those societies, not here in New Zealand". [http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10334250]

Further reading

:*citation |first1 = Mohammed Ashraf |last1 = Choudhary |first2 = C. J. |last2 = Baker |title = Developments in direct drilling techniques |place = Auckland, [N.Z.] |publisher = New Zealand Energy Research and Development Committee |year = 1985

External links

* [http://www.theasianoutlook.com/articles/March/40.htm Interview with Ashraf Choudhary]
* [http://www.pakistandost.com/choudhry.htm PakistanDost biography]