Sarwar back in Punjab as Khan drops cabinet role plan
MOHAMMAD SARWAR’S hopes of becoming Pakistan’s foreign secretary have been dashed.
The former Glasgow Labour MP had been tipped to take one of the top cabinet jobs in the new government following the election of Imran Khan as Prime Minister last month.
However, he has been sent back to his old job as governor of Punjab instead, just days after he was quoted in the Pakistan press saying he had no desire to do it again.
Sources close to Mr Sarwar, whose son is the Labour MSP
Anas Sarwar, had previously talked up his prospects, saying he had the credentials to be a diplomat.
However it is understood Mr Khan, a former captain of the Pakistan cricket team before entering politics, dropped his plans to name him foreign secretary last week, and announced his return to Punjab on Friday.
Mr Sarwar tried to put a brave face on the snub, saying on Twitter that he was “grateful to Allah for the role of Governor Punjab”.
His son Anas also congratulated him on the appointment, tweeting: “I have no doubt he will lead with courage, determination, vision & principle. Change is coming…”
However one source close to the family said Mr Sarwar Snr was “very angry” at the outcome.
Mr Sarwar, 65, was the UK’S first Muslim MP, representing Govan and Glasgow Central from 1997 to 2010.
He was governor of Punjab, which has a population of 110 millio people, from 2013 to 2015 before standing down after criticising the government of then prime minister Nawaz Sharif.
Mr Sarwar is now aligned with Mr Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-insaf (PTI), which became the largest party in Pakistan’s national assembly in July’s election.
Born in Faisalbad, Mr Sarwar moved to Scotland in the early 1970s and became a millionaire by building a cash-and-carry business with his brother. He became the first Muslim MP at Westminster when he won the Glasgow Govan seat at the 1997 General Election, during the Labour landslide that brought Tony Blair into power.
Mr Sarwar Snr returned to Scotland last year in a failed bid to secure his son the Scottish Labour leadership.