Abid Q. Raja
| Abid Qayyum Raja | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Member of Parliament for Akershus |
|
|
Assumed office 17 October 2013 |
|
| Personal details | |
| Born |
5 November 1975 Oslo, Norway |
| Nationality | Norwegian |
| Political party | Liberal Party |
| Spouse(s) | Nadia Ansar |
| Children | Maya Sara Adam Raja |
| Alma mater |
|
| Occupation | Politician |
| Profession | Lawyer |
University of Oxford
University of Oslo
Abid Qayyum Raja (born 5 November 1975 in Oslo) is a Norwegian lawyer and Liberal Party politician. He was elected to the Parliament of Norway as representative for Akershus in 2013 where he serves as second deputy chair of the Standing Committee on Transport and Communications and also is a member of the Standing Committee on Scrutiny and Constitutional Affairs
Born in Oslo into a family of Pakistani descent, he was raised in the St. Hanshaugen neighborhood in Oslo. His father Abdul Qayyum Raja (1937-) was a factory worker who worked at the Christiania Spigerverk steel plant in Nydalen, while his mother Akthar Nasim (1949-) was a homemaker. Raja describes his parents as someone who "used violence as a part of the parenting, violence was relatively common in my community". In 1992, at age 15 he was taken away from home due to the ongoing violence in the household. He was subsequently placed in a hospice for recovering drug-addicts, which he later would describe as a "hellish dump". After being relocated to a nearby orphanage, he dropped out of high school.
After six months at the orphanage, he was allowed to move back home, after which his parents sent him to Pakistan. Upon his return to Norway, he re-enrolled in high-school and according to him "had his mind set on becoming a lawyer" after seeing Kevin Costner in the film JFK.
After graduating from Foss Upper Secondary School, he enrolled at University of Southampton, and graduated with a degree in Human Rights and Behavioural Sciences in Law. Raja was in 2003 the first non-ethnic Norwegian to receive the Norway Scholar that have been rewarded since 1920 at University of Oxford, Wadham College and there he studied for the MSc degree in Psychology. He holds also an undergraduate degree in Criminology and Master of Law degree Cand.jur. degree from University of Oslo with Laud.
...
Wikipedia