LONDON: Sadiq Khan, who was Saturday re-elected for a record third term as London mayor, rose from humble roots to spar with world leaders and bring consequential change to the British capital.
The 53-year-old Labor party politician – a former human rights lawyer brought up on a London public housing complex – comfortably defeated Conservative rival Susan Hall for a third stint at City Hall.
He now overtakes predecessor Boris Johnson as the longest-serving holder of the post, which notably has powers over the emergency services, transport and planning in the city of nearly nine million.
Victory continues a remarkable journey for the Pakistani immigrant bus driver’s son, who became the first Muslim mayor of a Western capital when initially elected in 2016.
As mayor, he has made a name for himself as a vocal critic of Brexit and successive Conservative prime ministers, including Johnson, as well as for a feud with former US president Donald Trump.
The pair became embroiled in an extraordinary war of words after Khan criticized Trump’s travel ban on people from certain Muslim countries.
Trump then accused Khan of doing a “very bad job on terrorism” and called him a “stone cold loser” and a “national disgrace.”
The mayor in turn allowed an infamous blimp of Trump dressed as a baby in a nappy to fly above protests in Parliament Square during his 2018 visit to Britain.
“He once called me a stone cold loser. Only one of us is a loser, and it’s not me,” Khan told AFP during his 2021 campaign.
But Khan’s own tenure has not been without its controversies, particularly over last year’s expansion of an Ultra-Low Emission Zone into the largest pollution-charging scheme in the world.
The daily toll on the most-polluting vehicles prompted a fierce backlash in outer boroughs of Greater London, with anger at the extra financial burden during a cost-of-living crisis.
Khan has also been criticized for failing to get to grips with high levels of knife crime and since last year, his handling of large weekly pro-Palestinian protests.
Born in London in 1970 to parents who had recently arrived from Pakistan, Khan was the fifth child out of seven brothers and one sister.
He grew up in public housing in Tooting, an ethnically mixed residential area in south London, and slept in a bunk-bed until he was 24.
His modest background plays well in a city that is proud of its diversity and loves a self-made success story.
Khan still regularly recalls how his father drove one of London’s famous red buses, and his mother was a seamstress.
He is a handy boxer, having learnt the sport to defend himself in the streets against those who hurled racist abuse at him, and two of his brothers are boxing coaches.
He initially wanted to become a dentist, but a teacher spotted his gift for verbal sparring and directed him toward law.
He gained a law degree from the University of North London and started out as a trainee lawyer in 1994 at the Christian Fisher legal firm, where he was eventually made a partner.
He specialized in human rights, and spent three years chairing the civil liberties campaign group Liberty.
He represented Louis Farrakhan, leader of the Nation of Islam movement, and Babar Ahmad, a mosque acquaintance who was jailed in the United States after admitting providing support to the Taliban regime in Afghanistan.
Khan joined Labor aged 15 when Conservative prime minister Margaret Thatcher was in her pomp.
He became a local councilor for Tooting in the Conservative-dominated Wandsworth local borough in 1994, and its member of parliament in 2005.
He still lives in the area with his lawyer wife Saadiya and their two teenage daughters.
Labor prime minister Gordon Brown made him communities minister in 2008 and he later served as transport minister, becoming the first Muslim minister to attend Cabinet meetings.
In parliament, he voted for gay marriage – which earned him death threats.
As mayor, he vowed to focus on providing affordable homes for Londoners and freezing transport fares, but – like many in power around the world – saw his agenda engulfed by the pandemic.
He is London’s third mayor after Labor’s Ken Livingstone (2000-2008) and Johnson (2008-2016), with widespread speculation he could eventually try to follow in his predecessor and become prime minister.

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s newly appointed Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar met with Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan and other Arab officials on the sidelines of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) summit in Gambia on Saturday, emphasizing collective action to address the problems confronting the Muslim world.
The OIC summit is being held against a backdrop of widespread anger over Israel’s military actions in Gaza, which have resulted in the death of nearly 35,000 Palestinians along with a massive destruction of hospitals, schools and residential neighborhoods in the area.
There has been a clear uptick in Islamophobic sentiments and incidents in different parts of the world, particularly since the outset of the conflict last year in October.
The Pakistani deputy prime minister arrived in Gambia on Wednesday to present his country’s perspective on a wide range of issue, including the war in Gaza and the rights situation in the Indian-administered Kashmir.
“Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Mohammad Ishaq Dar @MIshaqDar50 today met Foreign Minister of Saudi Arabia H.R.H. Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud @FaisalbinFarhan in Banjul, The Gambia,” the foreign office said in a social media post.
“They discussed strengthening strategic and economic relations between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia and enhancing economic cooperation and investment,” it continued. “They called for a ceasefire in Gaza and emphasized the importance of OIC’s role in addressing challenges concerning the Muslim Ummah including Islamophobia and the situations in Palestine and Kashmir.”

Dar also held separate meetings with the foreign ministers of Kuwait, Egypt and Qatar.
During his conversation with Abdullah Ali Al Yahya of Kuwait, he discussed the possibility of further strengthening bilateral cooperation.
He noted the government wanted to transform the “traditionally fraternal ties with Kuwait into a mutually beneficial economic partnership.”
Dar also discussed further consolidation in trade and investment with Qatar’s Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani while seeking more employment opportunities for young Pakistanis.
He emphasized on an immediate ceasefire in Gaza during his interactions for all Arab officials, commending Egypt’s role in supporting international humanitarian assistance for Palestine in his meeting the Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Hassan Shoukry.