Who is Humza Yousaf— Scotland's leader of Pakistani origin? Know about his wife and other details

For the first time in its history, Scotland elected its first Muslim leader, Humza Yousaf, who won the Scottish National Party leadership contest. The 37-year-old son of a Pakistani descendant is currentlyScotland's health minister. He defeatedtwo other lawmakers in a contest to replace First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, who unexpectedly stepped down last month after eight yearsas a leader of the party and of a semi-autonomous government. The SNP members chose Yousaf over finance minister Forbes by a margin of 52 to 48 per cent after the third candidate Ash Regan was eliminated.The challenge he faces now is to unite his party, the Scottish National Party, and re-energising the push for independence from the United Kingdom. Here's everything you need to know about him.

Humza Haroon Yousaf was born on April 7, 1985, to Punjabi immigrants in Glasgow. His father, Muzzaffar Yousaf was born in Punjab, Pakistan, and immigrated from the city with his family in the 1960s.

Humza attended Mearns Primary School and was later privately educated at Hutchesons' Grammar School. His parents favoured doctor, accountant and law as a career for him, but Yousaf instead opted to study politics. He was the president of the Univeristy of GlasgowMuslim Students Association. He was a prominent figure in student politics.

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Yousaf graduated in 2007 with a Master's degree in Arts.

Yousaf's first wife Gail Lythgoe is also an SNP worker, and both were married for six years, from 2010 to 2016. In 2019, he married a psychotherapist, Nadia El-Nakla. He has one child and a stepchild.

Yousaf has always been involved in community work, including charity fundraising. He was the volunteer media spokesperson for the charity Islamic Relief.

He joined the Scottish National Party while studying at the university. In 2007, he extensively began campaigning for SNP for the parliamentary elections which resulted in the first SNP government in the country and his first job in the Scottish parliament.

On Sept 5, 2012, then-first minister Alex Salmond appointed Yousaf as Minster of External Affairs and International Development, where he was responsible for external affairs, fair trade policy and diaspora.

In 2018, he was promoted toCabinet Secretary for Justice by Nicola Sturgeon.

Since 2021 till now, Humza currently has been servingas the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care.But after Nicola Sturgeon announced her departure, he pledged to uphold Sturgeon's socially progressive agenda including same-sex marriage, abortion clinic buffer zones and banning conversion practices.