Scottish Labour elects Anas Sarwar as first Muslim leader to lead party

(Karachi) Scottish Labour party has announced Anas Sarwar as their new leader — the first Muslim to have ever led the party, local media reported. The move comes ahead of an election for the country's devolved parliament in May.

Sarwar, a Glasgow member of the Scottish parliament (MSP), succeeds Richard Leonard who resigned in January.

"I want to say directly to the people of Scotland — I know Labour has a lot of work to do to win back your trust because if we're brutally honest you haven't had the Scottish Labour party you deserve," said Sarwar.

As per BBC, Anas Sarwar has been a member of the Scottish Labour party since he was 16 and is not the only one in his family with political ambitions.

His father, Mohammad Sarwar, became UK's first Muslim MP and had the Glasgow Central seat to his name from 1997 to 2010, after which Anas took over till 2015 when it was won by Scottish National Party's Alison Thewliss.

Sarwar's most high profile role as an MSP (Member of Scottish Parliament) was as Scottish Labour's health spokesman and he played a key role in the concern over safety issues at Glasgow's Queen Elizabeth University Hospital which led to a public inquiry.

Anas is a graduate from the University of Glasgow and was a dentist in Paisley for five years before he became an MP.