Mohammad Asghar (30 September 1945 – 16 June 2020), known as Oscar, was a Welsh politician who was a

Member of the Senedd A Member of the Senedd (MS; plural: ''MSs''; cy, Aelodau o'r Senedd; , plural:) (AS)., group=la is a representative elected to the Senedd (Welsh Parliament; ). There are sixty members, with forty members chosen to represent individual Senedd ...

for

South Wales East South Wales East () is an electoral region of the Senedd, consisting of eight constituencies. The region elects 12 members, eight directly elected constituency members and four additional members. The electoral region was first used in 1999, wh ...

. He was a member of the

Welsh Conservatives The Welsh Conservatives ( cy, Ceidwadwyr Cymreig) is the branch of the United Kingdom Conservative Party that operates in Wales. At Westminster elections, it is the second most popular political party in Wales, having obtained the second-large ...

, and previously of

Welsh Labour Welsh Labour ( cy, Llafur Cymru) is the branch of the United Kingdom Labour Party in Wales and the largest party in modern Welsh politics. Welsh Labour and its forebears won a plurality of the Welsh vote at every UK general election since 1922 ...

, and

Plaid Cymru Plaid Cymru ( ; ; officially Plaid Cymru – the Party of Wales, often referred to simply as Plaid) is a centre-left to left-wing, Welsh nationalist political party in Wales, committed to Welsh independence from the United Kingdom. Plaid wa ...

. He came to prominence after being elected to the

Welsh Assembly The Senedd (; ), officially known as the Welsh Parliament in English and () in Welsh, is the devolved, unicameral legislature of Wales. A democratically elected body, it makes laws for Wales, agrees certain taxes and scrutinises the Welsh Gove ...

in 2007 as a member of Plaid Cymru on the list for

."Labour given a bloody nose"
''icWales'', 4 May 2007 He was the first ethnic minority and Muslim Member of the Welsh Assembly,"First ethnic minority AM elected"
''BBC News'', 4 May 2007 as well as the first Assembly Member who was a member of a political party to defect to another party.

Early life

Born in

Peshawar Peshawar (; ps, پېښور ; hnd, ; ; ur, ) is the sixth most populous city in Pakistan, with a population of over 2.3 million. It is situated in the north-west of the country, close to the International border with Afghanistan. It is ...

(then in

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...

) to Aslam Khan and Zubaida Aslam, Asghar gained a BA from

Peshawar University The University of Peshawar ( ps, د پېښور پوهنتون; hnd, پشور یونیورسٹی; ur, ; abbreviated UoP; known more popularly as Peshawar University) is a Public university, public research university located in Peshawar, Khy ...

before moving to Wales to complete a course in accountancy in Newport.

Political career

Asghar initially joined the Conservative Party, remaining a member for some two decades, later joining the Labour Party in the 1990s. He joined Plaid Cymru some time after becoming Wales's first Muslim councillor, representing Victoria ward on

Newport City Council Newport City Council () is the governing body for Newport, one of the Principal Areas of Wales. It consists of 51 councillors, who represent the city's 20 wards. The council is currently, and has historically been, held by the Labour Party. ...

. He had stood for Plaid Cymru in

general elections A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...

. His daughter

Natasha Asghar Natasha Asghar is a Welsh Conservative Party politician who represents South Wales East in the Senedd since the 2021 Senedd election. Her father Mohammad Asghar represented the same constituency until his death in 2020. She is the first female e ...

also stood as a

candidate in the 2007 Elections,Young Candidates
Plaid Cymru and also joined the Conservative party at the same time he did so. On 8 December 2009, Asghar became the first AM to cross the floor, defecting from Plaid Cymru to the Conservative Party. He claimed that he felt "out of tune" with Plaid policies, described himself as a

royalist A royalist supports a particular monarch as head of state for a particular kingdom, or of a particular dynastic claim. In the abstract, this position is royalism. It is distinct from monarchism, which advocates a monarchical system of governme ...

and unionist,Plaid AM defects to Conservatives

BBC News online BBC News Online is the website of BBC News, the division of the BBC responsible for newsgathering and production. It is one of the most popular news websites, with 1.2 billion website visits in April 2021, as well as being used by 60% of the U ...

, 8 December 2009. and stated that he felt like "a little parrot in a jungle". Plaid Cymru called on Asghar to resign his seat following his defection.

Expenses scandal and corruption

Issues were raised regarding two staff members remaining on permanent paid leave until the Welsh assembly was dissolved in 2011. Asghar has gone on record as stating that MEP

Jillian Evans Jill Evans (born 8 May 1959) is a Plaid Cymru politician who served as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for Wales from 1999 to 2020. She was the first person to use the Welsh language in debate at the European Parliament. In June 199 ...

's offer to give his daughter work experience was a significant factor in his decision to defect from the Labour party to Plaid Cymru.

Controversy over 2011 election candidacy

In August 2010, Asghar was selected to stand for the Welsh Conservatives in the 2011 election. In September 2010 David Fouweather, the Chair of the South-East Wales Area Council of the Welsh Conservatives, called for a full investigation into events that preceded the endorsement of Mohammad Asghar as a regional list candidate. In a letter to the Chair of the Welsh Conservatives, Fouweather wrote: Following his call for an investigation into Asghar's selection, Fouweather was asked by the Conservative Party to stand down as Chair of the South-East Wales Area Council.

Newport council election 2011

In December 2011, Asghar emailed fellow Conservatives asking them to support his wife in a vacant

seat two days after the incumbent Les Knight had died. The email read: One of the Conservative councillors who received the email said: Asghar later apologised for the email, and confirmed that his wife would not be standing for election in the forthcoming elections.

Mosque election dispute

In 2011, Asghar was involved in a dispute with members of the Jamia Mosque and Al-Noor Mosque, the two largest

Sunni Sunni Islam () is the largest branch of Islam, followed by 85–90% of the world's Muslims. Its name comes from the word '' Sunnah'', referring to the tradition of Muhammad. The differences between Sunni and Shia Muslims arose from a disagr ...

mosque A mosque (; from ar, مَسْجِد, masjid, ; literally "place of ritual prostration"), also called masjid, is a place of prayer for Muslims. Mosques are usually covered buildings, but can be any place where prayers ( sujud) are performed, ...

s in Newport, during which some members accused him of aggressively opposing the introduction of democratic elections for the mosques' leadership. Asghar was subsequently issued with an

ex parte In law, ''ex parte'' () is a Latin term meaning literally "from/out of the party/faction of" (name of party/faction, often omitted), thus signifying "on behalf of (name)". An ''ex parte'' decision is one decided by a judge without requiring all ...

court

injunction An injunction is a legal and equitable remedy in the form of a special court order that compels a party to do or refrain from specific acts. ("The court of appeals ... has exclusive jurisdiction to enjoin, set aside, suspend (in whole or in pa ...

, forbidding him from attending either mosque. In December 2011, members of the two mosques applied to have the injunction extended. The injunction was instead lifted, when a

Cardiff Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...

County Court A county court is a court based in or with a jurisdiction covering one or more counties, which are administrative divisions (subnational entities) within a country, not to be confused with the medieval system of ''county courts'' held by the high ...

judge instructed the two parties to come to a private agreement.

Awards and nominations

In January 2014 and 2015, Asghar was nominated for the Politician of the Year award at the

British Muslim Awards The British Muslim Awards are an annual award ceremony that honours the success and achievements of British Muslim individuals, groups and businesses. It was established in 2013. Overview The British Muslim Awards was founded by Oceanic Consulti ...

Personal life

He was a qualified pilot and spoke Urdu, Hindi and Punjabi fluently. Asghar married his wife, Firdaus, in 1983; they had one daughter

. He ran with the

Olympic torch The Olympic flame is a symbol used in the Olympic movement. It is also a symbol of continuity between ancient and modern games. Several months before the Olympic Games, the Olympic flame is lit at Olympia, Greece. This ceremony starts the Olympic ...

1964 Events January * January 1 – The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland is dissolved. * January 5 - In the first meeting between leaders of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches since the fifteenth century, Pope Paul VI and Patriarch ...

and campaigned for

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

to have its own cricket team.

Death

Asghar died on 16 June 2020 after being rushed to hospital earlier in the day. His funeral took place in Newport Central Mosque on 25 June 2020.

References

External links

Senedd
Member profile
Mohammad Asghar
profile at Welsh Conservative Party

Offices held

{{DEFAULTSORT:Asghar, Mohammad 1945 births 2020 deaths Plaid Cymru members of the Senedd Conservative Party members of the Senedd Councillors in Wales Welsh Muslims Pakistani emigrants to Wales Wales AMs 2007–2011 Wales AMs 2011–2016 Wales MSs 2016–2021 People from Peshawar University of Peshawar alumni British politicians of Pakistani descent Pashtun people Pakistani emigrants to the United Kingdom Naturalised citizens of the United Kingdom