Motions, questions and answers

That the Parliament marks the sad passing of Bashir Maan CBE and recognises his immense contribution to public life in Scotland; notes that Bashir arrived in Glasgow in 1953 aged 26 as a student and worked as a door-to-door salesman; recognises his many achievements, including in 1968 being appointed the first Asian and Muslim Justice of the Peace in Scotland, in 1970 making history by being the first Muslim Councillor publicly elected in the UK, serving the Labour Party in the Kingston ward in Glasgow, in 1971 becoming the first Muslim magistrate, in 1977 being appointed Deputy Chairman of the Commission for Racial Equality by the Home Secretary for three years, and in 1983 becoming the first South Asian to be appointed Deputy Lieutenant of Glasgow by the Lord Provost, Michael Kelly; notes that in 2000, in recognition of his extensive work in the community, race relations and the voluntary sector, Bashir was awarded a CBE; acknowledges that in 2003 he retired from politics after a career that spanned 33 years and completion of a four-year term as Convenor of the Strathclyde Joint Police Board; recognises that in June 1999 he received an honorary doctorate from the University of Strathclyde, and that in total he was awarded three honorary doctorates and two fellowships by Scottish universities; acknowledges that Bashir published a number of books, including The New Scots: The Story of Asians in Scotland in 1992, which chronicles the history of the Asian diaspora in Scotland, as well as The Thistle and the Crescent: a study of Scottish-Islam relations in 2008, and Muslims in Scotland in 2015, which chronicle Scottish Muslim life; recognises that, in 1997, he was a founding member of the Muslim Council in Britain, and that between 2007 and 2009 he was Convener of the Muslim Council of Scotland, and believes that Bashir Maan was a pioneering and inspiring role model and a true trailblazer who broke barriers several times. achieving many firsts, and made history paving the way and opening the civic door for a whole generation of South Asian Scots.