Ashraf Choudhary (born 15 February 1949;

Sialkot Sialkot ( ur, ) is a city located in Punjab, Pakistan. It is the capital of Sialkot District and the 13th most populous city in Pakistan. The boundaries of Sialkot are joined with Jammu (the winter capital of Indian administered Jammu and Ka ...

Punjab Punjab (; Punjabi: پنجاب ; ਪੰਜਾਬ ; ; also romanised as ''Panjāb'' or ''Panj-Āb'') is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising a ...

) is a Pakistani-New Zealand scientist in

agricultural engineering Agricultural engineering, also known as agricultural and biosystems engineering, is the field of study and application of engineering science and designs principles for agriculture purposes, combining the various disciplines of mechanical, civil, ...

and formerly a member of the

Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. Th ...

in New Zealand. He is a member of the Labour Party, and was New Zealand's first MP from

South Asia South Asia is the southern subregion of Asia, which is defined in both geographical Geography (from Greek: , ''geographia''. Combination of Greek words ‘Geo’ (The Earth) and ‘Graphien’ (to describe), literally "earth descr ...

and

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 243 million people, and has the world's second-lar ...

Early life

Choudhary was born in the Pakistani half of the

Punjab region Punjab (; Punjabi: پنجاب ; ਪੰਜਾਬ ; ; also romanised as ''Panjāb'' or ''Panj-Āb'') is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising a ...

in village Jajay at the home of Chaudhry Muhammad Boota. He comes from a family of agriculture. He attended high school in the town of

, and then gained a degree in

from University of Agriculture, Faisalabad (UAF) in

Faisalabad Faisalabad (; Punjabi/ ur, , ; ), formerly known as Lyallpur (Punjabi, Urdu: لائل پور), named after the founder of the city, but was renamed in 1977 in honour of late King Faisal of Saudi Arabia. It is the 3rd largest city of Pakis ...

. He continued his studies abroad, gaining a master's degree in

at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne,

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

and a PhD in

at Massey University, New Zealand.

Scientific and community work

Choudhary was originally an environmental scientist and taught at Massey University. He has published a large number of scientific papers in his field, and is considered to be an international authority on

conservation tillage Tillage is the agricultural preparation of soil by mechanical agitation of various types, such as digging, stirring, and overturning. Examples of human-powered tilling methods using hand tools include shoveling, picking, mattock work, hoei ...

. His work has a particular focus on agricultural techniques in developing countries. Choudhary has three children. Before entering

, Choudhary had worked with a number of community organisations, 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 ''Halal'' (; ar, حلال, ) is an Arabic word that translates to "permissible" in English. In the Quran, the word ''halal'' is contrasted with '' haram'' (forbidden). This binary opposition was elaborated into a more complex classification k ...

meat contract with the New Zealand Meat Producers Board in June 1984, with the aid of

Mazhar Krasniqi Mazhar Shukri Krasniqi (1931–2019) was a New Zealand Islam in New Zealand, Muslim and Albanian New Zealanders, Albanian community leader of Kosovar Albanian descent, businessman and human rights activist. He was both the first president of the ...

, Hajji Abdul Rahim Rasheed and Dr. Mohammad Hanif Quazi.

Parliamentary politics

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 election. He was sworn in on the

Qur'an The Quran (, ; Standard Arabic: , Quranic Arabic: , , 'the recitation'), also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation from God. It is organized in 114 chapters (pl.: , s ...

, which

Winston Peters Winston Raymond Peters (born 11 April 1945) is a New Zealand politician serving as the leader of New Zealand First since its foundation in 1993. Peters served as the 13th deputy prime minister of New Zealand from 1996 to 1998 and 2017 to 2020, ...

(leader of the New Zealand First party) criticised as breaking "centuries-old tradition." Choudhary, however, responded that the tradition was broken when Premier

Julius Vogel Sir Julius Vogel (24 February 1835 – 12 March 1899) was the eighth premier of New Zealand. His administration is best remembered for the issuing of bonds to fund railway construction and other public works. He was the first Jewish prime mi ...

was sworn in on the

Torah The Torah (; hbo, ''Tōrā'', "Instruction", "Teaching" or "Law") is the compilation of the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, namely the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. In that sense, Torah means the ...

. Because Parliamentary officials did not have a copy of the

, they obtained a copy from the FIANZ office, which was then donated to the Parliamentary Library for use in the future. During his time in

, Choudhary 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 legalise prostitution. The Muslim community were upset by his decision to abstain from voting since prostitution is seen as a violation of their faith. In 2011, Choudhary was mentioned in Anders Behring Breivik's manifesto ''2083: A European Declaration of Independence'' where Choudhary was used an example of Muslim's failing to assimilate by not condoning the stoning of homosexuals and those who have extramarital affairs. Choudhary had in 2004 stated that stoning was in line with Qur'an teachings, but had no place in New Zealand. He responded to the inclusion in the manifesto by saying "He is a terrorist and we should condemn what he has done and that is all I really want to say."

Post-parliament career

On 29 September 2011, Choudhary delivered his valedictory speech in Parliament and would retire from politics after the 2011 general election. Since retiring Choudhary has been active in the Pakistani and Indian community circles of Auckland encouraging youth political involvement and supporting blood donor drives. At the 2016 election and 2019 election local body elections Choudhary was elected to the Otara-Papatoetoe Local Board and

Counties Manukau District Health Board The Counties Manukau District Health Board (CM Health) was a district health board which focused on providing healthcare to the Counties Manukau area in southern Auckland, New Zealand. As of 2016, it ws responsible for 534,750 residents; or 11% ...

Honours

In the

2001 New Year Honours The 2001 New Year Honours List is one of the annual New Year Honours, a part of the British honours system, where New Year's Day, 1 January, is marked in several Commonwealth countries by appointing new members of orders of chivalry and recipient ...

, Choudhary was appointed a

Companion of the Queen's Service Order The Queen's Service Order, established by royal warrant of Queen Elizabeth II on 13 March 1975, is used to recognise "valuable voluntary service to the community or meritorious and faithful services to the Crown or similar services within the pu ...

for community service.

References

External links

Interview with Ashraf Choudhary

Ashraf Choudhary
at TheyWorkForYou {{DEFAULTSORT:Choudhary, Ashraf 1949 births Alumni of Newcastle University Agricultural engineers Companions of the Queen's Service Order Living people Massey University alumni Academic staff of Massey University University of Agriculture, Faisalabad alumni New Zealand Labour Party MPs New Zealand Muslims Pakistani emigrants to New Zealand Pakistani scientists Pakistani engineers People from Sialkot Environmental scientists Environmental engineers New Zealand list MPs Unsuccessful candidates in the 1999 New Zealand general election Members of the New Zealand House of Representatives New Zealand people of Punjabi descent 21st-century New Zealand politicians Counties Manukau District Health Board members