Bashir Ahmad (12 February 1940 – 6 February 2009) was an entrepreneur and a

Scottish National Party The Scottish National Party (SNP; ) is a Scottish nationalist and social democratic party. The party holds 61 of the 129 seats in the Scottish Parliament, and holds 9 out of the 57 Scottish seats in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, ...

politician. He was first elected as a

Member of the Scottish Parliament Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP; ; ) is the title given to any one of the 129 individuals elected to serve in the Scottish Parliament. Electoral system The additional member system produces a form of proportional representation, where ...

(MSP) for the Glasgow region at the 2007 election, and was the first MSP to be elected from a

South Asian South Asia is the southern Subregion#Asia, subregion of Asia that is defined in both geographical and Ethnicity, ethnic-Culture, cultural terms. South Asia, with a population of 2.04 billion, contains a quarter (25%) of the world's populatio ...

and

Muslim Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

background.

Early life

Ahmad was born in

Amritsar Amritsar, also known as Ambarsar, is the second-List of cities in Punjab, India by population, largest city in the India, Indian state of Punjab, India, Punjab, after Ludhiana. Located in the Majha region, it is a major cultural, transportatio ...

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance in South Asia. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one form or another ...

on 12 February 1940. In 1951, at the age of 11, his family emigrated to

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

from

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

. He served five terms as President of the Pakistan Welfare Association.

Political career

Ahmad joined the Scottish National Party in 1992. In 1995, he founded Asian Scots for Independence to attract more

Asian-Scots Scottish Asian (Asian-Scottish or Asian-Scots) is a term defined within the 2011 Scottish census as including people of Bangladeshi, Chinese, Indian, Pakistani or other Asian ancestry resident in Scotland. Their parents or grandparents are norm ...

to the party. When Bashir launched Scots Asians for Independence at the SNP conference in 1995, he gave a speech saying "it isn't important where you come from, what matters is where we are going together as a nation". He retired from business in 2003 to devote himself to

politics Politics () is the set of activities that are associated with decision-making, making decisions in social group, groups, or other forms of power (social and political), power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of Social sta ...

. In

2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...

, he defeated the Labour candidate to become the Councillor for the Pollokshields East ward. Upon his selection as second on the SNP's Glasgow list, Ahmad said: "The lack of any Asian or ethnic minority voice in the Scottish Parliament has been felt deeply in my community. But SNP members have righted that wrong. By doing so, they have proved that the SNP aspires to lead a Scottish Parliament that will represent all of Scotland – a truly national parliament. I firmly believe the SNP can now earn the trust of the Asian community throughout Scotland and that this will be a bond that endures for generations." At the

2007 Scottish Parliament election The 2007 Scottish Parliament election was held on Thursday 3 May 2007 to elect members to the Scottish Parliament. It was the third general election to the devolved Scottish Parliament since it was created in 1999. 2007 Scottish local elections, ...

, Ahmad was elected to the

Scottish Parliament The Scottish Parliament ( ; ) is the Devolution in the United Kingdom, devolved, unicameral legislature of Scotland. It is located in the Holyrood, Edinburgh, Holyrood area of Edinburgh, and is frequently referred to by the metonym 'Holyrood'. ...

on the Glasgow regional list. He thus became the first non-white and first Muslim MSP. On the opening day of the

3rd Scottish Parliament This is a list of members (MSPs) returned to the third Scottish Parliament at the 2007 Scottish Parliament election. Of the 129 MSPs, 73 were elected from first past the post constituencies with a further 56 members being returned from eight r ...

, he wore traditional Pakistani clothing and took his oath of office in both the

Urdu Urdu (; , , ) is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in South Asia. It is the Languages of Pakistan, national language and ''lingua franca'' of Pakistan. In India, it is an Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of Indi ...

and

English language English is a West Germanic language that developed in early medieval England and has since become a English as a lingua franca, global lingua franca. The namesake of the language is the Angles (tribe), Angles, one of the Germanic peoples th ...

s. Ahmad led the bill on making

forced marriage Forced marriage is a marriage in which one or more of the parties is married without their consent or against their will. A marriage can also become a forced marriage even if both parties enter with full consent if one or both are later force ...

a criminal offence in Scotland and participated in a humanitarian campaign for Scottish hospitals to treat the most serious casualties of

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

's attacks on the

Gaza Strip The Gaza Strip, also known simply as Gaza, is a small territory located on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea; it is the smaller of the two Palestinian territories, the other being the West Bank, that make up the State of Palestine. I ...

, particularly women and children with life-threatening burns or other wounds. He was a member of the Scottish Parliament's Public Petitions Committee, which decides which action should be taken on petitions submitted by individuals, groups or organisations. Ahmad died of a heart attack on 6 February 2009 at the age of 68. His funeral was held at the Glasgow Central Mosque and he was buried in

Cathcart Cemetery Cathcart Cemetery is a cemetery in East Renfrewshire, Scotland, which was opened in 1876 . It is named after the nearby neighbourhood of Cathcart, Glasgow, Cathcart on the southern outskirts of Glasgow, but does not actually fall within the city ...

Family life

Bashir is survived by his wife Naseem, their five daughters, two sons and 11 grandchildren.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ahmad, Bashir 1940 births Scottish people of Pakistani descent 2009 deaths Burials at Cathcart Cemetery Naturalised citizens of the United Kingdom Pakistani emigrants to Scotland Politicians from Karachi Scottish restaurateurs Pakistani restaurateurs Scottish Muslims Scottish National Party MSPs Members of the Scottish Parliament 2007–2011 Pakistani Muslims Scottish people of Punjabi descent Pollokshields 20th-century Scottish businesspeople Members of the Scottish Parliament for Glasgow constituencies Politicians from Amritsar