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Sajjad Karim

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Sajjad Haider Karim
MEP
Member of the European Parliament
for North West England
Incumbent
Assumed office
13 June 2004
Preceded byJacqueline Foster
Personal details
Born (1970-07-11) 11 July 1970 (age 54)
Blackburn, Lancashire, England
Political party UK
Conservative Party
 EU
Alliance of Conservatives and Reformists in Europe
Other political
affiliations
ChildrenRabia Karim
Alma mater
Websitesajjadkarim.eu

Sajjad Haider Karim (born 11 July 1970 in Blackburn) is a British politician. He was first elected to the European Parliament in 2004, aged 33. He was re-elected in June 2009 and in 2014.[1] representing North West England.[2]

He is a solicitor by profession and has been the Legal Affairs Spokesman for the Conservatives in the European Parliament since 2009.

As well as having been a Spokesman to the WTO, Karim Chairs the European Parliament South Asia Trade Monitoring Board; South Caucases Delegation and is rotating chair of the powerful Parliamentary Conduct Committee.

In 2014 he was the European Conservatives and Reformists candidate for President of the European Parliament.

Karim has developed extensive experience in Trade related issues including being the Parliamentary Rapporteur for EU-INDIA Free trade agreement.

In 2015, Karim was given the highest National Honour bestowed on foreigners by Pakistan for his role in securing a British Government lead initiative delivering favourable market access for Pakistan to the EU. The Queen and Nelson Mandela hold the same award.

Karim has also delivered through Parliament reforms which deliver exemptions for SMEs from regulation; new powers for national parliaments in EU decision making and lead the EU Audit profession reforms after the financial crisis.

Early life

Karim, a British Pakistani, was born in Blackburn, Lancashire on 11 July 1970.[3] His family hails from Mandi Bahauddin, Punjab, Pakistan. Karim attended Walter Street County primary school Brierfield and thereafter Mansfield High School, Brierfield. He completed his A levels at Nelson and Colne College before studying Law at University. He attended the College of Law in Chester studying Law. He qualified as a solicitor of the Supreme Court of England and Wales in 1997 and rose to becoming an equity partner very quickly specialising in cases of serious fraud defence work.

Karim's earliest political activity started with leafleting at the age of seven for the then Conservative parliamentary candidate for Pendle. He later joined the Liberal Democrats in 1989. Sajjad was elected a member of Pendle Borough Council in 1994 and served until 2002 representing Brierfield ward.[citation needed]

Member of the European Parliament, 2004–present

Karim was elected to represent the North West England in 2004 as a Liberal Democrat. On 26 November 2007 he re-joined the Conservative Party and was re-elected to the European Parliament in June 2009. In May 2014 he was re-elected to serve a third term.

Karim is interested in human rights issues including child labour and the civil liberties of EU citizens in the War on Terror. He led the successful European Union contribution to the campaign for the commutation of the death penalty of British man, Mirza Tahir Hussain, who had spent half of his life on death row in Pakistan, for a crime he maintains he did not commit.

Sajjad has spoken out on a number of key human rights issues and in particular, campaigns for self-determination for Kashmir. He has hosted a number of conferences in the European Parliament on the issue.[4] In 2013 he brought together Syrian opposition groups to try encourage a co-hesive strategy to the current regime. He has also been active on the issue of democracy in Egypt and civil rights in Turkey.

On 26 November 2008, whilst visiting India as part of a European Parliament Committee on International Trade delegation (ahead of an EU-India summit), he was caught up in the Mumbai attacks in the lobby of the Taj Mahal Palace & Tower hotel.[5] Speaking to the Associated Press while holed up in the hotel's restaurant shortly after the terrorists gained control of the hotel, Karim said "I was in the main lobby and there was all of a sudden a lot of firing outside...all of a sudden another gunmen appeared in front of us, carrying machine gun-type weapons. And he just started firing at us ... I just turned and ran in the opposite direction." [6]

In December 2009, Karim was appointed as the Legal Affairs Spokesperson for the Conservative Group in the European Parliament. He was reappointed to this front bench position in June 2014 following the European Elections in May. As well as serving as a full member of the Legal Affairs Committee (JURI), Sajjad was previously a substitute member of the Industry, Research and Energy Committee and the Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs Committee. He also currently Chairs the South Asia Monitoring Group and is a member of the delegations with the Mashreq countries and the Delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Union for the Mediterranean.[7]

Karim has championed the role played by the EU in developing and facilitating International trade between the EU and the wider world and has been involved the development of the EU-India Free Trade Agreement within the European Parliament.[8] Karim was the European Parliament's rapporteur on the free trade agreement with India and has authored two trade-related European Parliament Reports on EU-India Trade Relations and the EU-India Free Trade Agreement.[9]

Both reports maintain the need for human rights to be integral in any trade related agreement that the EU has with another country.

Karim continues to spend a considerable amount of his time working towards a reduction in EU regulations and red tape on businesses, particularly SMEs. In October 2011 he was appointed as the European Parliament rapporteur on a new report that will look at improving the law-making process across the EU and reduce the legislative burden.[10]

In July 2011, the English Defence League staged an anti-Islamic protest outside Karim's family home near Burnley, allegedly regarding new EU proposals on the labelling of Halal meat.[verification needed][11] The group have targeted him despite Karim not having much to do with either Saudi Arabia or British Bangladeshis.

In February 2012, Karim was one of five MEPs to be appointed to a panel to police the new code of conduct rules that will govern the behaviour of MEPs. He is the only British MEP to serve on this committee. The Advisory Committee provides guidance to MEPs and advises the Parliament's President on what steps to take in the event of alleged breaches of the code.[12] In February 2014 he was appointed Chairman of the Advisory Committee by the President of the European Parliament, Martin Schulz.

After the European elections in 2014 Karim was selected as the European Conservative and Reformist Group Parliament Presidential candidate. The incumbent Martin Schultz retained his position as President with Karim coming second of a total of four candidate. It being widely acknowledged that Karim secured support from MEPs right across the house beyond his own group.

Karim made headline news in December 2012 when he played an instrumental role in securing the return of 6 year-old Atiya Anjum-Wilkinson to UK from Pakistan following abduction by her father. Over several weeks he worked closely with Greater Manchester Police and the Pakistani authorities and Atiya was returned safely to her mother during the Christmas holidays.[13]

In December 2013, the European Parliament voted to approve a concessionary trade status for Pakistan. The preferential trade package for Pakistan's exports to EU countries came into force in January 2014. Karim steered the International Trade Committee to approve the beneficial trade tariff.[14]

Recognition

Sajjad was awarded an Honorary Doctorate for the University of Management and Technology in Lahore for his work in securing the GSP+ deal and for services to the British Pakistani community.[15]

In August 2014 Karim was awarded the Sitara-i-qaid-i-Azam, Pakistan's highest national honour to non-Pakistanis, for his services to strengthen Pakistan/UK and Pakistan/EU relations.[16] Karim was presented with the award in March 2015 by Pakistan President, Mamnoon Hussain, at a ceremony in Islamabad.

In January 2015, Karim was nominated for the Politician of the Year award at the British Muslim Awards.[17]

See also

List of British Pakistanis

References

  1. ^ "Results". North West Votes. 2014. Retrieved 12 July 2015.
  2. ^ "Sajjad Karim MEP - 13 years standing up for the North West". www.sajjadkarim.eu.
  3. ^ "North West MEP Sajjad Karim safe after fleeing Mumbai gunmen". Lancashire Telegraph.
  4. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 6 October 2014. Retrieved 1 October 2014. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  5. ^ "At least 78 dead in Mumbai 'terror attacks'". 26 November 2008.
  6. ^ "Associated Press: Gunmen kill at least 78 in attacks across Mumbai".
  7. ^ "Sajjad KARIM - Home - MEPs - European Parliament". www.europarl.europa.eu.
  8. ^ "Commitment to EU-India FTA". Archived from the original on 16 March 2012. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  9. ^ "Sajjad Biography". Archived from the original on 3 March 2012. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  10. ^ "Sajjad appointed to report on better law-making". Archived from the original on 3 January 2013. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  11. ^ "MEP Sajjad Karim 'threatened' over EDL protest by home". 5 July 2011 – via www.bbc.co.uk.
  12. ^ "Sajjad appointed to new panel". Archived from the original on 3 March 2012. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  13. ^ "Atiya Anjum-Wilkinson being returned from Pakistan". BBC News. 28 December 2012.
  14. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 6 October 2014. Retrieved 1 October 2014. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  15. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 6 October 2014. Retrieved 1 October 2014. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  16. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 6 October 2014. Retrieved 1 October 2014. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  17. ^ "British Muslim Awards 2015 finalists unveiled". Asian Image. 23 January 2015. Retrieved 1 November 2015. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
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