"I want to belong": Mrs Khan naturalized – against recommendation of the city council, with ovations – Zurzibiet – Aargau

Standing ovations after naturalization should have a rarity value. On Wednesday evening, in the Provost of Wislikofen, it happened: when Kaniz Fatema Khan and his two children entered the overcrowded Benedict Hall after the vote, a large portion of the voters present stood up and applauded with applause. constant.

Khan is 40 years old, is from Bangladesh, has been living in Switzerland for 20 years, has been living in Wislikofen for 10 years, has been working as a cook at the local Maia Foundation for 5 years and has been the main topic of conversation in recent weeks.

For the local council had recommended to the people to vote to reject the application for naturalization of the mother of two children. "Linguistic knowledge too weak and questionable integration", was the reasoning. Among other things, Kahn could not name all the neighboring communities in the naturalization discussions in Wislikofen.

"The case has made waves," said Heiri Rohner, head of the community team. 85 out of 242 voters had come. Even regular visitors could not remember a Gmeind with more participants. The Benedict Hall in the village of 342 inhabitants of Zurzibieter was to be nachbeuhlt.

For all evils, the Gmeind could not unfold as usual in the great room of the provost. The latter was occupied by a seminar. From the beginning, the Assembly asked that the agenda item be preferred to naturalisations, so that everyone can breathe deeply afterwards. The request has been clearly accepted.

"Wislikofen is my house"

Kaniz Khan also spoke. Retained, almost shy, she apologizes to the council for the whirlwind that her case triggered. "Wislikofen is my home, I feel like a family here," she said. "And if I feel like that, why should not I let myself naturalize?" I want to belong.

A little earlier, Ammann Rohner said he hoped for a fair discussion: "This is not a road to graze, it's a matter of people." It was also important for Rohner to point out that council and Khan family had good relations.

From the plenary session, Khan was described as a "kind person". One speaker found it odd that children were recommended for naturalization, but not the mother. One person said: "We, the sovereign," can wholeheartedly decide that the board must follow its criteria when making recommendations. "

The discussion was short, the vote is clear. Kaniz Fatema Khan was naturalized with 67:11 votes. His son Alif Khan (born in 2001) and his daughter Labiba Khan (2003) have not even had any opposition. Both were born in Switzerland and were recommended by the local council for naturalization.