Public Petitions Committee, 10 Feb 2009

Meeting date: Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Official Report 314KB pdf

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Scottish Parliament Public Petitions Committee Tuesday 10 February 2009

[The Convener opened the meeting at 14:00]

Good afternoon. I welcome everyone to this meeting of the Scottish Parliament Public Petitions Committee.

Before we go into the formalities of today's meeting, people will be aware that in the past few days we lost one of our members of the Scottish Parliament, and a very valued member of our Public Petitions Committee—Bashir Ahmad. People will have heard the tributes to Bashir that have been paid over the past few days. We know that the Presiding Officer and the First Minister will wish to comment in Parliament tomorrow on his sad passing away.

Bashir was a very good member of the committee who made substantial contributions to its work. It is appropriate that we spend a few moments in quiet reflection. I ask members to remain seated, but to pause in reflection on the contribution that Bashir Ahmad made to public life, particularly as the first Muslim to be elected to the Scottish Parliament, which marks a great achievement for the community from which he came.