Chaudhry Sarwar

Chaudhry Mohammad Sarwar (Urdu: چوہدری محمد سرور) is a Pakistani and former British politician who served as the 31st and 33rd Governor of Punjab,[n 1] from 2013 to 2015 and from 2018 to 2022.

Born in Pirmahal, Punjab, Sarwar moved to Scotland in 1976 and built up a chain of cash and carry stores.

[11] Mohammad Sarwar was born on 1 January 1950 to a Punjabi Arain family in Sain De Khuie, a village near Lyallpur (now Faisalabad), Pakistan.

[17][18] Sarwar first stood as a Labour councillor for Pollokshields East at the 1987 Glasgow City Council election, almost overturning a large Conservative majority.

[19] Sarwar was suspended from holding office within the Labour Party in 1997 when he was charged with electoral offences,[20][21] but he was acquitted in 1999 and the suspension was lifted.

He faced an opponent from the far-right 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.

[23] In August 2006, he was a signatory to an open letter to then-Prime Minister Tony Blair criticising UK foreign policy.

[24] Sarwar played a crucial role in bringing to justice the killers of fifteen-year-old Glasgow schoolboy, Kriss Donald.

[26] His son, Anas Sarwar, succeeded him as Labour MP for the Glasgow Central seat until the election of 2015 when it was taken by Alison Thewliss for the SNP.

[27] His nomination by outgoing Prime Minister, 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.

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.

Mohammad Sarwar MP's constituency office, located on Paisley Road West