British Pakistani councillor Afzal sworn in as Birmingham’s new lord mayor

• Chandrashekar Bhat
• 27 May, 2021

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By: Chandrashekar Bhat

VETERAN British Pakistani councillor Muhammad Afzal has been sworn in as the new lord mayor of Birmingham.

Afzal’s swearing-in as the first citizen of the city took place more than a year after he was selected to the post, as the event was postponed due to coronavirus-induced lockdowns.

Elected to Birmingham city council for the first time in 1982 from Aston ward, the Labour politician enjoys the distinction of being the longest-serving Muslim councillor in the UK. He is also the first Muslim elected to the city council.

Afzal, who hails from a village near Dina in Pakistan, came to Birmingham in 1969 and joined the Labour Party the following year.

He was selected by the city council’s Labour group as the new lord mayor in January 2020 after a full council meeting and is the fifth British Pakistani elected to the post in Birmingham after Mahmood Hussain, Abdul Rashid JP, Shafiq Shah and Muhammad Azim.