Ahmad joined the Scottish National Party in 1992. In 1995, he founded Asian Scots for Independence to attract more
Asian-Scots to the party. When Bashir launched Scots Asians for Independence at the SNP conference in 1995, he gave a speech saying "it isn't important where you come from, what matters is where we are going together as a nation". He retired from business in 2003 to devote himself to
politics. In
2003, he defeated the Labour candidate to become the Councillor for the Pollokshields East ward. Upon his selection as second on the SNP's Glasgow list, Ahmad said: "The lack of any Asian or ethnic minority voice in the Scottish Parliament has been felt deeply in my community. But SNP members have righted that wrong. By doing so, they have proved that the SNP aspires to lead a Scottish Parliament that will represent all of Scotland – a truly national parliament. I firmly believe the SNP can now earn the trust of the Asian community throughout Scotland and that this will be a bond that endures for generations." At the
2007 Scottish Parliament election, Ahmad was elected to the
Scottish Parliament on the Glasgow regional list. He thus became the first non-white and first Muslim
MSP. On the opening day of the
3rd Scottish Parliament, he wore traditional Pakistani clothing and took his oath of office in both the
Urdu and
English languages. Ahmad led the bill on making
forced marriage a criminal offence in Scotland and participated in a humanitarian campaign for Scottish hospitals to treat the most serious casualties of
Israel's attacks on the
Gaza Strip, particularly women and children with life-threatening burns or other wounds. He was a member of the Scottish Parliament's
Public Petitions Committee, which decides which action should be taken on petitions submitted by individuals, groups or organisations. == Death ==