Mohammed Ajeeb

Mohammed Ajeeb was born in Mirpur, a district in Pakistan-administered Kashmir. Before migrating to Britain, Ajeeb was educated at the University of Karachi and worked in clerical positions.

In the winter of 1957, Mohammed Ajeeb migrated from Pakistan to Nottingham. He unexpectedly lived in a home with twenty-eight men who were also from Mirpur, and knocked door-to-door in search of work. Whilst Ajeeb had hoped to secure the same office-based work that he had undertaken in Pakistan, he ended up working on the factory floor and made bath cubes in a soap factory. He was sacked from this job because his manager was angered that Ajeeb resisted his discriminatory behaviour. Subsequently, he found employment in the transport sector. A proportion of his pay cheque was sent to his father, brother and sister in Pakistan. He was able to purchase a property in Nottingham, and by 1962 was married to Arshad Begum. In the same year Ajeeb became a housing officer for the Nottingham Race Relations Board, marking the start of his career in community relations and local politics.

In 1971 Mohammed Ajeeb moved to Bradford. Here, he worked for SHARE (Shelter Housing and Renewal Experiment) as deputy director. He also continued working for the Race Relations Board as a member of the Race Conciliation Committee. Ajeeb became a member of the Labour Party in 1974. In 1976 he became Chairperson of the Bradford Community Relations Council. In 1979 Ajeeb became a Labour councillor for Bradford Metropolitan Council. As a councillor, his activities included founding the Pakistan Community Centre in Bradford. He was also a friend of Junior Rashid, who became the Bradford Asian Youth Movement Chairperson in 1979. Whilst Ajeeb was not an outward supporter of the AYM, he encouraged Junior to go to university and advised him in a personal capacity. Ajeeb was also connected with Bashir Maan, given their common experience of supporting Pakistani communities in Britain and their involvement in Labour politics.

On 21 May 1985 Ajeeb made history when he became Lord Mayor of Bradford, Britain’s first South Asian lord mayor. The appointment was widely celebrated given its historical significance. Ajeeb occupied this position until 1986. It is important to note that Britain's first South Asian mayor was doctor and politician Chuni Lal Katial, who was elected as Mayor of Finsbury in 1938. Whilst the posts of mayor and lord mayor serve the same function, the title 'lord mayor' is often reserved for the mayors of major cities across the UK.

Ajeeb was an outspoken critic of Ray Honeyford, a Bradford-based headteacher who argued in the conservative Salisbury Review that multiculturalism had failed in British schools. He argued that South Asians were interested in creating ‘Asian ghettoes’ and did not respect British values and traditions. The Honeyford Affair was nationally debated, and upon being appointed as lord mayor, Ajeeb criticized Honeyford for his views, in turn violating the political neutrality of the mayoralty position. Ajeeb’s comments contributed to Honeyford’s sacking as headteacher in 1986.

Mohammed Ajeeb was active in politics until 2000. In 2001 he was awarded a CBE in the Queen’s birthday honours.