Summer 2023Deputy Lieutenant Asrar Ul-Haq OBE

Asrar Ul-Haq was appointed by Her Majesty the Queen as a deputy lieutenant of Greater Manchester in 2021 due to his work in the community. Here, he tells Real Rochdale more about his efforts which led to him becoming one of the King’s representatives and also being awarded an OBE.

Despite being born in Lahore, Pakistan, Asrar identifies as “Rochdale, through and through.” His family moved to Rochdale when he was two, after his father came to Britain to ensure his children received the best education in the world.

He attended Kingsway and Balderstone schools before gaining an honours degree in physics and maths at university. He originally wanted to join the Royal Air Force as a pilot and successfully secured a place to train as a navigator following intensive testing.

“I was told that, now that I was familiar with the process, to come back in 12 months if I wanted to be considered for pilot training, so I started looking around to fill that time and get life skills,” he said.

Asrar joined the police force, a decision he says his father was pleased with as he was following in the family footsteps: his great-grandfather had been the head constable under the British Raj in Punjab, whilst his grandfather was an inspector.

“My father was very pleased, but my mum was distraught because she had no faith in the police. At the time, the National Front were active and risks were rife. The police never used to turn up when you called them.”

Asrar was posted to Rochdale where he quickly became a detective, working in various departments before becoming responsible for policing in the city centre of Manchester, which he describes as “the best part of my policing career.”

Having served as a police officer for 30 years, including as a Detective Chief Inspector in London in the Prevention of Terrorism Unit, Asrar received numerous awards and commendations from High Court Judges, Magistrates and Chief Constables for his work. He received a national award for Innovation in Policing from the Home Secretary and later was the recipient of a national award for Inspirational Leadership.

Since retirement, Asrar has also voluntarily worked in refugee camps in Greece following the crisis in the middle east where he and his family supported many displaced people, including setting up outdoor cinemas for children in the evenings using old PowerPoint projectors.

The father-of-two is also behind a new pilot scheme in Rochdale, which sees the Duke of Edinburgh Award scheme being delivered by non-traditional organisations to reach young people who may not otherwise be able to access it. Local community interest company, Aspire 2 Inspire, became the first, followed by two local mosques.

He explained: “The DofE is generally delivered in more affluent schools and places like Rochdale haven’t had that luxury. Engagement in Rochdale has been poor due to the lack of organisations delivering any such schemes.

“These different delivery models have got an extra 150 kids participating in the award, which gives them a distinct advantage with their UCAS and job applications. It teaches life skills and puts them in a better position. If this delivery model becomes national, that’s great news for Rochdale because we developed this first.”

Asrar is also the driving force behind the local Amaani Initiative, a project aimed at enhancing the local environment and making people more climate aware, with the aim of tackling climate change.

“My kids embarrassed me into doing this. I was planting trees abroad in my parents’ memory after they died, and my children told me I wasn’t making much difference with just a couple of trees.

“We came up with the scheme to donate olive trees, which are of significance to churches, mosques and synagogues. We gift a tree and request they plant at least one more in return.”

The Amaani Initiative subsequently led to the Mosques and Churches in Bloom schemes, seeing the religious venues working alongside Rochdale in Bloom to make the borough greener. Around 800 trees have been planted under the Amaani Initiative so far.

Asrar is working with the University of Manchester Hospital Trust to raise money to buy a CT scanner and gift it to the trust so that it can be used to determine a cause of death without the need for an invasive post-mortem examination. The scanner will be gifted to the trust with the understanding that the community will have access to the scanner free of charge at the point of need following a bereavement.

He is also in talks with Rochdale Council about erecting a modest memorial in Rochdale to commemorate the oft-forgotten sacrifice of the four million South Asian soldiers who fought in World War One and Two in support of Britain. “I go to remembrance events, and it hurts me that there is no mention of the Asian contribution, despite making up 25% of the soldiers, which is more than the ANZACs, or any other groups,” he said.

Away from his community work, Asrar remains a consultant and a subject matter expert for the National Crime Agency, is a member of the Greater Manchester Advisory Committee to the Lord Chancellor and the Lord Chief Justice, and was a governor of Rochdale Sixth Form College.

Concluding, he said: “I’m blessed in lots of ways, I had wonderful parents, I have a great family and good friends. I can’t say I’ve climbed Everest or swam the channel, but I just do my little bit to make Rochdale better.

“I love what I do and that I have the time to do it. My wife helps me in everything I do; she’s always in the background. My wife has lived in Rochdale most of her life and our children were born here.

“I’m proud of Rochdale.”