AN EX-MP has revealed he is still haunted by the race-hate murder of schoolboy Kriss Donald after defying death threats to bring his killers to justice.
Mohammad Sarwar, 71, said he was “embarrassed” to meet the victim’s mum because the monsters who slaughtered him 20 years ago today shared his Pakistani heritage.
But when three of the brutes fled to his homeland, he worked to have them sent back to be convicted and caged for the murder that shocked Scotland.
And his efforts helped prevent far-right groups taking advantage of the slaying of 15-year-old Kriss to whip up racial divisions in Glasgow.
Mr Sarwar — whose son Anas, 41, is Scottish Labour leader — recalled he was in London on March 15, 2004, when he got a call “to tell me one of my constituency’s young boys had been murdered”.
He later learned the innocent youth had been snatched off the street in the city’s Pollokshields just because he was white.
A mob of thugs, led by Imran ‘Baldy’ Shahid, wanted revenge for an attack on him in a nightclub.
The brutes stabbed and battered Kriss while taking him on a horror 200-mile round trip to Dundee and back. The terrified lad, who had nothing to do with the gang scene, was then doused in petrol and burned alive in Glasgow’s east end.
His charred body was found close to the River Clyde the next day.
Mr Sarwar said: “I returned to Glasgow to meet the police and heard about the most brutal murder in the history of Scotland.
“It was a very tragic incident. I was deeply shocked and upset.”
The Labour MP then arranged to meet Kriss’s mum, Angela Donald, now 60, who was “devastated”.
He admitted: “I had been embarrassed to go and see her.
“Unfortunately, the killers were from the same country as me.
“I felt very strongly that they killed an innocent boy and must be brought to justice. Especially for his mother and family.
“They wanted peace — and this would only come if the culprits were caught and punished. It would have been easy to say that we were doing this and that — but unless things happen, it means nothing.
“When dealing with criminals you can’t have a running media commentary. Police briefed Angela on the investigation every two weeks.”
In November 2004, Daanish Zahid, now 40, became the first person convicted in Scotland of a racially motivated murder. He was caged for a minimum of 17 years.
Accomplice Zahid Mohammed, 40, admitted taking part in the abduction and lying to cops. He was put behind bars for five years.
But by then Imran Shahid, 47, Zeeshan Shahid, 45, and Mohammed Faisal Mushtaq, 47, had fled to Pakistan.
Mr Sarwar made it his personal mission to have them returned.
He said: “When these killers left Britain it was a big problem to find out where they were.
“My first task was to find out if they had entered Pakistan or not.
“I used the Federal Investigation Agency, which kept a record of all people entering the country.
“We managed to find out they were in Pakistan. Then it was a big challenge to trace them because it’s a big country. It was not easy.
“I arranged a meeting between Strathclyde Police, police in Pakistan and the intelligence agency there to see if we could tape their calls.”
The task of hauling the three fiends back to Scotland was blocked by political red tape.
But Mr Sarwar used his influential contacts in Pakistan — where he later served two terms as Governor of Punjab — to reach out to the country’s most senior figures in a bid to find a solution.
He explained: “We managed to find out their whereabouts. There was the problem of no extradition treaty existing between Pakistan and the UK.
“It was not an easy task, I had to come to Pakistan many times.
“I met with the president, the prime minister and interior minister. But I was finding it very difficult.
“Then the High Commissioner told me they were in process of signing an extradition treaty and I just had to be patient, as it wouldn’t be in place for two or three years.
“We couldn’t wait that long. In fact, the treaty still isn’t signed.
“However, with the consent of the interior minister in Pakistan and police, we managed to arrange for a one-off extradition treaty. Then we got the killers caught and brought them back to Scotland. The lead Strathclyde officer, Elliot McKenzie, did a magnificent job.”
The fugitives were arrested in Pakistan in July 2005 and extradited to the UK three months later.
All three were convicted at the High Court in Edinburgh of abduction and racially motivated murder.
Imran Shahid was caged for at least 25 years, Zeeshan Shahid got 23 years and Mushtaq was locked up for a minimum of 22 years.
Mr Sarwar said: “Kriss’s mum Angela only really believed it when it happened. I saw some comfort in her that justice had been done.
“I could see the calm in her face, which made me very happy.”
The former Labour MP, who served Glasgow seats from 1997 to 2010, revealed he’d refused to be scared off by chilling warnings from the underworld heavies and associates.
He said: “They were causing difficulty for my family and myself with death threats. There were many people who were advising me against getting involved.
“They said these were bad people who will do this or that to you and your family. But I said if this happened to my son, I’d do the same.
“Your constituents are like your sons and daughters. It wasn’t an easy decision, it was very difficult. There were serious threats but my family was 100 per cent on my side.
“There was one car blasted in my car park a couple of days after they were arrested. But Strathclyde Police were very helpful, watching my house and my businesses.
“I’m glad we managed to bring them back and get them convicted.”
