Nazir Ahmed, Baron Ahmed: Difference between revisions

Nazir Ahmed, Baron Ahmed (b. 1958) is a Labour member of the House of Lords. In 1998 he was made Britain's first Muslim peer, and was raised to the peerage as Baron Ahmed, of Rotherham in the County of South Yorkshire.

Ahmed has three children and two grandchildren and continues to live in Rotherham.

Lord Ahmed was born in Mirpur (Azad Kashmir, Pakistan) but was brought up in the UK. He attended Spurley Hey Comprehensive school, then Thomas Rotherham Sixth form College. He studied Public Administration at the University of Sheffield and joined the Labour Party when he was 18 years old.

He distinguished himself as a particularly proactive local councillor, with most of his activity centred around the North of England. He recognised the significance of grass roots politics and founded the British Muslim Councillors’ Forum in 1992. Ahmed was also made a Justice of the Peace in the same year and chaired the South Yorkshire Labour Party for some years. He is also a businessman, starting as a grocer and eventually rising to become a business and property developer.

In 1998 Ahmed was appointed to the House of Lords and took his oath on the Qur'an. He was also one of the youngest peers to achieve this position at the age of 40. As a Muslim peer, much of his activities relate to the Muslim community, both at home and internationally. Ahmed led one of the first delegations on behalf of the British Government on the Muslim pilgrimage of the Hajj, to Saudi Arabia and has advocated legislation against religious discrimination, international terrorism and forced marriages. At home, Ahmed speaks on wider equality issues, and has spoken several times on issues of race, religion and gender. He is seen as one of the leaders of the Muslim community and has tried to calm tensions following the aftermath of September 11.

In August 2006 he was a signatory to an open letter to Tony Blair, the Prime Minster, criticising the UK's foreign policy.^[1]. In 2007 he responded to the award of a knighthood to Salman Rushdie by claiming he was appalled, stating that Rushdie had 'blood on his hands' (thus blaming Rushdie for the murders of publishers and publishing staff around the world by Muslim extremists. ^[2].

In September 2007, Ahmed flew to Islamabad with Pakistan's former President Nawaz Sharif, in a bid to end Sharif's exile from the country by military ruler Pervez Musharraf, who had ousted him in a coup d'etat. Ahmed negotiated with police to allow Sharif to enter the airport terminal and pass through customs, but Sharif was arrested later, with some reports saying he was deported.^[3]

As a resident of Rotherham, Ahmed has spoken on behalf of the communities in that region, particularly the families of the former steelworkers of the 1960s, from the Indian subcontinent who are now second or third generation British. He has expressed that he is anxious to see that these regions continue to live peacefully amidst the growing move towards the far-right across Europe, and strives to encourage positive integration into society so that people of all cultures can live together harmoniously.

Born in the region, Ahmed has a personal interest in seeing a peaceful resolve to the ongoing bloody dispute in Kashmir and seeks international mediation to achieve this. As well as being an active figure in the Indian Subcontinent, he has worked on the plight of Muslims around the world ranging from the collapse of former Yugoslavia, to the Chechens and Palestinians. He has been on many delegations to the Arab world, the US, Eastern Europe, Africa, the former states of the USSR and the Far East, meeting with heads of state to discuss their respective problems and how he may be able to assist them.

Ahmed helps with various charitable causes and is on the board of several organisations from local groups such as his position as President of South Yorkshire Victim Support, to international bodies such as his board membership on the SAARC Foundation.

On February 23, 2005, Lord Ahmed hosted a book launch in the House of Lords for an author by the name of Israel Shamir. On the 22nd March, Stephen Pollard, in a guest editorial appearing in the Times, lambasted the event. In his piece entitled 'Lord Ahmed's Unwelcome Guest', Pollard opines that Shamir "is, in fact, a Swedish-domiciled anti-Semite also known as Jöran Jermas.” Pollard goes on to characterize the speech entitled 'Jews and Empire’ as containing anti-Semitic references such as "Jews control ... a big share of mass media"; 'the Jewish supremacy drive' as the one reason for wars in the Middle East, and that 'Jews love Empire'. Shamir also suggested that the large Muslim population in Britain was important to turn the tide of 'Judaic Values' in Britain. Lord Ahmed refused to comment on the remarks of Shamir.^[4]

On July 25, 2005 Lord Ahmed, while interviewing with Robert Siegel on American National Public Radio (NPR), said that the suicide Bombers of 7/7 had "identity crisis" and, "unfortunately, our imams and mosques have not been able to communicate the true message of Islam in the language that these young people can understand."^[5] Christopher Orlet of The American Spectator did not agree with Lord Ahmed's "identity crisis." He said, "That's not an identity crisis, Lord Ahmed, that's religious psychopathy. That's a bloodthirstiness that makes Dracula look like a teetotaler."^[6]

Lord Ahmed did acknowledge, "the community leaders and religious leaders, who have kept very close contacts with South Asia and the Middle East rather than keeping a good contact with the British society where we live."^[7]

On 30th November 2006, the New Statesman 'revealed' that Lord Ahmed campaigned against his fellow Muslim and Labour parliamentarian Shahid Malik during the Dewsbury election in 2005. Ahmed instead backed Sayeeda Warsi, vice-chair of the Conservative Party, a personal friend. According to the New Statesman's report, Warsi "welcomed Lord Ahmed's support". The New Statesman confirmed that Lord Ahmed denies supporting the Conservative Party in any way.

On June 19th 2007 Lord Ahmed criticized the honouring of Salman Rushdie with a knighthood because of what Lord Ahmed saw as Rushdie's offensiveness to Islam.^[8] He was reported to have said, "It's hypocrisy by Tony Blair who two weeks ago was talking about building bridges to mainstream Muslims, and then he's honoring a man who has insulted the British public and been divisive in community relations."^[9] "This man not only provoked violence around the world because of his writings, but there were many people who were killed around the world. Forgiving and forgetting is one thing, but honouring the man who has blood on his hands, sort of, because of what he did, I think is going a bit too far." He also said on BBC Radio 4's PM program that he had been appalled by the award to a man he accused of having 'blood on his hands'.^[10][8] In an interview with Le Figaro, Lord Ahmed reportedly referred to the perpetrators of the September 11 attacks as martyrs: "What would one say if the Saudi or Afghan governments honoured the martyrs of the September 11 attacks on the United States?" .^[11] He was criticized by some for apparently besmirching free speech and for showing an a lack of tolerance for criticism of Islam, something that called into question his appropriateness for the privilege of sitting in the House of Lords.^[12][13]

Lord Ahmed is also a paid consultant for Nestle, and appears to operate under a bias for the companies activites, despite the international boycott of Nestle because of their agressive marketing of baby milk formula. http://www.babymilkaction.org/boycott/boyct31.html

In November 2007 he was involved in a rescue attempt for Gillian Gibbons in Sudan. The teacher, Gillian Gibbons, allowed her class to name a teddy bear Muhammad. Lord Ahmed, from Britain's ruling Labour Party, and Baroness Sayeeda Warsi, an opposition Conservative, are in Khartoum on what is being described as a mercy mission.

• Announcement of his introduction at the House of Lords