By David Torrance Politician and businessman Born February 12, 1940 Died February 6, 2009 Bashir Ahmad, who has died aged 68, was a member of the Scottish Parliament for just under two years, but his status as the first non-white person to become an MSP has secured his place in the history books.
Few newly-elected MSPs are mentioned in the maiden speeches of First Ministers but Ahmad was an exception on a memorable day in May 2007. "In 1961, Bashir Ahmad came to Glasgow to drive buses," recalled Alex Salmond. "In 1961, the very idea of a Scottish Parliament was unimaginable. In 1961, the idea of a Scots Asian sitting in a Scots Parliament was doubly unimaginable. But Bashir is here and we are here."
The sight of him taking his oath in Urdu, clad in traditional Pakistani clothing, only served to emphasise the significance of his election and the political progress the new First Minister claimed Scotland had made.
"The lack of any Asian or ethnic-minority voice in the Scottish Parliament has been felt deeply in my community," Ahmad reflected on his selection as number two on the Scottish National Party's Glasgow regional list. "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."
Ahmad's other enduring contribution to the SNP, if not Scotland itself, was his founding of the organisation Asian Scots for Independence in 1995. He was determined to attract more Asian Scots to the national movement and "electrified" the SNP conference on declaring that what mattered in Scotland was not where its people came from but where they were going.
Ahmad's career in elected office began in 2003 when he retired from his successful life as an entrepreneur, hotelier and restaurateur to devote himself to politics. He became a councillor on Glasgow City Council, representing the Pollokshields East ward - the place where he had settled on arriving in Glasgow from Pakistan 42 years earlier. Bashir Ahmad was born in Karachi on February 12, 1940, in the midst of a world war and at a time when the struggle for Indian independence had been put on hold. The first seven years of his life were therefore spent as a subject in the jewel of Britain's empire; the next 14 would be spent in newly partitioned Pakistan.
He emigrated to Scotland in 1961 at the age of 21, invited by a cousin who already lived in Pollokshields, and started work as a bus conductor, despite not speaking any English. Ahmad then bought a grocery shop on Glasgow's Alexandra Parade and, after owning a series of restaurants, a takeaway and the Clydesdale Hotel in Lanark.
Formerly a Labour activist, he defected to the SNP after inviting Salmond to speak at a meeting of the Pakistan Welfare Association, of which he was made president five times after becoming involved in the mid-1980s.
"I liked him, his speech, the way he delivered it and what he said about Scotland," Ahmad recalled. "That made me come into politics to do whatever I can do for Scotland."
Those who campaigned with Ahmad remembered his "quiet and unassuming" presence with the public. He was similarly quiet and unassuming as an MSP but was popular across the chamber and recognised for his obvious commitment to both the Asian community and Scotland. He also served as a member of the SNP's national executive committee following his election in 1998.
A senior figure in the Asian community, Ahmad played a key role in smoothing relations after the murder of teenager Kriss Donald in 2004. This status was reflected by the 1000 people who packed the Glasgow Central Mosque for his funeral on Saturday, a service led by Imam Habib Rauf. After the ceremony, Ahmad was laid to rest at Cathcart Cemetery in Linn Park.
Ahmad died on Friday evening from a heart attack. He is survived by his wife, Naseem, five daughters and two sons.
