Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif Preceded by Constituency created Majority 13,518 (48.2%) | Preceded by Makhdoom Ahmed Mehmood Succeeded by Anas Sarwar Children Anas Sarwar, Faiza Sarwar | |
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Succeeded by Malik Muhammad Rafique Rajwana Books Work of the Equality and Human Rights Commission, Scotland: Government Response to the Committee's Third Report of Session 2008-09, First Special Report, Session 2009-10 Education University of Faisalabad, University of Glasgow Similar Anas Sarwar, Imran Khan, Muhammad Zia‑ul‑Haq, Keir Hardie Profiles | ||
Chaudhry Mohammad Sarwar (Urdu: محمد سرور; born 18 August 1952) is a Pakistani and formerly British politician who served as Governor of Punjab, from 2 August 2013 until his resignation on 29 January 2015. Sarwar is currently affiliated with Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf. and now is PTI's Punjab Organiser. He previously served as a member of the House of Commons of the United Kingdom.
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Born in Faisalabad, Sarwar moved to Scotland in the early 1970s where he emerged as a successful businessman operating a chain of cash and carry stores which helped him build an estimated personal worth of £16 million. Sarwar served as Labour Member of Parliament for Glasgow Central from 1997 to 2010 and retired from British politics in 2010. During his time at Westminster he served on the Scottish Affairs Select Committee, while his son Anas Sarwar served as MP for the same seat. He holds the status as the first Muslim to sit in the British parliament.
He renounced his British citizenship in August 2013 following confirmation for a largely ceremonial position of governorship representing the conservative Pakistan Muslim League (N). He resigned from the position on 29 January 2015 days after criticising the government's foreign policy. He announced his defection to the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf on 10 February 2015.
Early and family life
Chaudhry Mohammad Sarwar was born in an Arain family of the village "Sian De Khuie", near Faisalabad, Pakistan. He was educated at the University of Faisalabad. In 1976 he moved to Scotland. That year he married Perveen Sarwar, with whom he had three sons and one daughter.
Sarwar has estimated assets of £16 million, mainly from the family wholesale cash and carry business, United Wholesale Grocers, which Sarwar and his brother founded in 1982. The brothers split the business in 2002, with Sarwar forming United Wholesale (Scotland) while his brother retained the previous name.
His eldest son was accused of an £850,000 missing trader fraud in United Wholesale (Scotland) Limited while he was managing director in 2003. In 2011 the Court of Criminal Appeal overturned his earlier conviction in 2007 for the fraud. Mohammad Sarwar was a remunerated director of the company, but never accused of involvement in the alleged fraud.
British political career
Sarwar first stood as a Labour councillor for Pollokshields East in the 1987 Glasgow City Council election, almost overturning a large Conservative majority. In 1992 he won the ward for Labour.
Sarwar was elected as MP for Glasgow Govan in the 1997 general election, becoming the first Muslim MP in Britain and the first Asian MP elected to represent a Scottish constituency. He was the first MP to swear the Oath of Allegiance on the Qur'an, using the method laid out by the Oaths Act 1978. Sarwar was suspended from holding office within the Labour Party in 1997 when he was charged with election offences, but he was acquitted in 1999 and the suspension was lifted.
He was re-elected in Glasgow Govan in the 2001 general election. The 2005 general election saw boundary changes in Scotland, so he fought and won the new constituency of Glasgow Central. He faced an opponent from the British National Party, with whom he refused to share a platform, and he persuaded other candidates to do the same. The returning officer announced the result from a platform with no candidates, and Sarwar later made a speech from the floor of the hall.
Sarwar became a member of the Scottish Affairs Select Committee from 2004, and was chairman since 2005.
In August 2006, he was a signatory to an open letter to Tony Blair criticising British foreign policy.
He played a crucial role in bringing to justice the killers of Glasgow schoolboy Kriss Donald. The killers fled to Pakistan, which has no extradition treaty with Britain. Through his political connections Sarwar was able to agree a one-off, no conditions attached, extradition treaty. They then faced trial and were convicted for the murder.
On 21 June 2007, Sarwar announced he would not stand again at the 2010 general election. His son, Anas Sarwar, succeeded him as MP for the Glasgow Central seat.
In November 2008, Sarwar was one of 18 MPs who signed a Commons motion backing a Team GB football team at the 2012 Olympics, saying football "should not be any different from other competing sports and our young talent should be allowed to show their skills on the world stage". The football governing bodies of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are all opposed to a Great Britain team, fearing it would stop them competing as individual nations in future tournaments.
His nomination by Gordon Brown for a life peerage in the 2010 Dissolution Honours was blocked by the House of Lords Appointments Commission on the advice of HM Revenue and Customs, but the objections have since been lifted.
Sarwar supports Rangers F.C.
Pakistani political career
He played an important role in campaigning and fundraising in Britain for the centre-right conservative party Pakistan Muslim League (N) during the 2013 General election in Pakistan. Soon after Pakistan Muslim League (N) chief Nawaz Sharif was sworn in as prime minister, he showed his intentions for becoming governor of Pakistan's most populous province Punjab.
On 5 August 2013, he was sworn in as the Governor of Punjab. As governor he criticised the government on a number of occasions. He fought the case of overseas Pakistanis whose houses and flats were confiscated by the land mafia in Pakistan but unable to redress their grievances successfully. On the occasion of Barack Obama's visit to India, he termed it as a failure of the government of Nawaz Sharif. These anti-government remarks led to his resignation.
He resigned as governor of Punjab on 29 January 2015. On 8 February 2015, Sarwar joined Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI).