Recently, in Rotherham, the council selected a new mayor, who took over from the incumbent Cllr Sheila Cowen, till May next year. These are almost ceremonial positions at these councils but they represent a change this time around.
She is the 120th mayor for the borough and is known for her background in voluntary work and public service. Cllr Ismail, who represents the Rotherham East Ward, has dedicated her career to supporting vulnerable people – from frontline roles in domestic abuse services to becoming Chief Executive of a charity in Nottinghamshire. She also serves as a Magistrate, Vice Chair of Unison Sheffield, and trustee of several local charities – demonstrating a longstanding commitment to giving back to the community she now calls home.
And on the face of it, would seem that she is an integrated part of the community and the country at large. See some of her tweets below:
But when it comes to identity, you find such Pakistanis to be extremely ethnonationalists. This is the reason why they live in parallel communities, and do not mix ethnically with outsiders. And because of this reason they can never assimilate into Britain. Maybe the point is that they never want to do so.
This below is an interview she recently gave to what seems like a Pakistani reporter working for some Pakistani channel. She delivers it in Urdu and I have translated it below.
Cllr Rukhsana Ismail interview delivered in Urdu, translated below:
"I am representing my Pakistani nation and Pakistani Muslim women. I am very proud, wearing hijab, wherever I go I will represent Muslim women.
In South Yorkshire, I am the first Pakistani Kashmiri mayor. It is a point of great pride. I am absolutely privileged, it is an honour to be in this position.
I never thought I would see this day, Alhamdulillah (Praise to Allah). This has happened because of Allah, the strength of my faith, and my parents."
In the end we also see two other Pakistan councillors of the region praising her and joining in their fellow Pakistani's success. I guess colonisation is a matter of great pride when it is done by the Mohammedans.
She has also vowed to support 4 charities; Rotherham Hospice Trust, Age UK Rotherham, Sense Rotherham, and Apna Haq. She is a trustee of Rotherham Hospice Trust, and Apna Haq (name in Urdu: Our right) is a Muslim led charity - also having a focus on active work against racism and Islamophobia.
They honest do not see any problem with it. They think you to be strange for pointing out their mixed loyalties, although they seem to be clearly for Pakistan and not mixed at all. Because they see citizenship as a ticket they have bought and not as a loyalty they have vowed to uphold. They have no spiritual or national allegiance to these lands. But they don’t see any problem with this transaction because to them it is obvious. Obviously they don’t, they are Pakistanis, they just happen to live here and work here. And they might work and benefit the people here from time to time but their loyalties are to Pakistan. It is only the people in the West who are confused by this mentality.
And it not always who the people are and what they do personally, they could be moderates just running on their cultural coding, which is understandable as there is no demand to integrate or assimilate from Western countries - but it is more of a matter of what these people enable and what extremism they give harbour to in their midst through their existence and creation of parallel communities.
I have raised similar concerns back in February 2024 when it came to translating the speeches of Afzal Khan and Azhar Ali representing Labour:
Many of the Pakistanis amongst them did not come here to be part of Britain, especially not the ones in the recent decades. They have come over here to learn your ways so they can takeover. For conquest. It is time to open your eyes. They have a deep rooted hatred for you, as white British people, and on top of it their religion gives them even more legitimacy for their perceived grievances to be justified as revenge.
Is this really the future of Britain that you want? This is the kind of ceremonial representation that you are looking for? Normalising a backwater religion and their followers, and a people who ultimately want to work to overthrow your government?
We will reap what we have sown, including what the others have and the weeds we invited in