CALLS for the immediate resignation of a senior Glasgow councillor were growing today after the Evening Times revealed he had fired a deadly AK-47 assault rifle.

CALLS for the immediate resignation of a senior Glasgow councillor were growing today after the Evening Times revealed he had fired a deadly AK-47 assault rifle.

We told yesterday how SNP councillor Jahangir Hanif was seen shooting the powerful weapon on a video during a family trip to Pakistan and had also encouraged his children to fire the gun.

Last night the nationalists suspended Mr Hanif from the party and issued an apology from him for his actions.

But Scotland's main opposition parties today insisted he should resign immediately as councillor for Govanhill.

And they were backed by Evening Times readers with a massive 84.4% responding to our online poll saying he should go.

In a statement issued by the SNP, Mr Hanif, who is currently in Pakistan, said: "I regret this happened and apologise - it was foolish and inappropriate. It took place over two-and-a-half years ago, long before I became a councillor."

Mr Hanif originally stood as an SNP candidate at the local elections in 2003.

The video was shot 17 months before he was elected on to Glasgow City Council in May 2007.

The disturbing images are a huge embarrassment for the Nationalists who are currently pressing for tougher airgun laws in Scotland and had been riding high after victory in the Glasgow East by-election.

Earlier, we confronted Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon with a copy of our front page story as she was leaving a Glasgow press conference.

She knows Mr Hanif well - parts of her Govan constituency overlap Hanif's Govanhill ward - and the councillor was a key ally in her 2007 election victory. Ms Sturgeon said she couldn't comment as she hadn't read the story.

Later the SNP issued a statement saying: "Councillor Hanif has this afternoon been suspended from the party, and therefore the council group, pending a disciplinary hearing where he will have the opportunity to explain himself and this incident from 2005.

"Councillor Hanif has not had the opportunity to put his side of the story.

"On the face of it he has not broken the law and there is no suggestion of any involvement in anything untoward. Nevertheless, this was very foolish and inappropriate conduct.

"He is well aware of the SNP's strong views against firearms, particularly involving children."

We broke the story of Councillor Hanif's actions yesterday		Frank McAveety	Bill Aitken

Glasgow Labour MSP Frank McAveety said: "Justice Minister Kenny McAskill is calling for tougher laws on airguns and here we have an elected member in Scotland's biggest city brandishing an AK-47.

"Given the problems the UK has with gun control, it is highly irresponsible for an elected member to be seen posing with a deadly weapon.

"It sends out the worst possible message and he should be considering his position."

Glasgow Conservative MSP Bill Aitken added: "What on earth was this man thinking of? This is the height of irresponsibility and, while I can't comment on whether it is illegal in Pakstan, but in this country it sends out the worst possible example.

"I would be interested to hear the views of Justice Secretary Kenny McAskill on this one.

"This councillor's behaviour is inconsistent with holding a post in elected office and he has to re-consider his position."

A Scottish Labour Party spokeswoman said: "This is a massive error of judgement on the part of this councillor.

"It makes a mockery of the SNP's claim to be tough on crime when one of their own elected officials is happy to handle a deadly assault weapon. Many people will be shaking their heads in disbelief."

We revealed yesterday how the 46-year-old millionaire councillor for Govanhill took five of his children - including his five-year-old daughter - to learn how to fire the weapon in the Kashmir border of Pakistan.

Mr Hanif initially defended his actions by claiming his children wanted to learn how to use the weapon, adding: "People have shotguns in Glasgow. It isn't illegal in Pakistan."

Councillor Hanif's 17-year-old daughter Noor, of Newton Mearns, told the Evening Times how she and her siblings were taken in a blacked out van to the training base near Peshwar and encouraged to fire the weapon during the family holiday three years ago.

In a video of the incident, Mr Hanif's youngest daughter Sana is seen being helped to fire the weapon.

The revelation comes just weeks after Mr Hanif faced claims he was a slum landlord.

He was accused of renting out flats kept in slum-like conditions despite campaigning against rogue landlords.

Hanif was reported to be earning £500-a-month for a two-bedroomed flat from a family of Romanians in Westmoreland Street, Govanhill, an areas considered so bad locals have nicknamed it "ground zero".

The councillor rakes in thousands of pounds from flats he owns in Glasgow and overseas.

But his wife Naushin, 38, who is in the middle of divorce proceedings from Hanif, says the family are being forced to sell their home in Newton Mearns because they can't pay the bills.

Mr Hanif lives in a flat above his constituency offices in Cathcart.