THE SNP was accused today of "disgracing" Glasgow after it failed to take action against a city councillor caught firing an AK-47 assault rifle.

THE SNP was accused today of "disgracing" Glasgow after it failed to take action against a city councillor caught firing an AK-47 assault rifle.

Labour leadership contender Andy Kerr said the party's credibility on gun crime was now "in tatters".

Airgun campaign takes a hit over Hanif

THE decision just to suspend Councillor Hanif for firing a deadly assault rifle is at odds with the SNP's campaign to outlaw airguns.

Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill has frequently called for the Labour Party in Scotland and the Westminster Government to bring in tougher legislation or to devolve power to the Scottish Parliament.

He has accused the "dead hand of the Scottish Office" for blocking his attempts to bring in legislation in Scotland.

In March, he accused Home Secretary Jacqui Smith of "complacency" after she declined an invitation to co-host a summit on the issue in Scotland.

His comments followed the release of figures which showed firearms casualties in Scotland rose by 25% in a year - and one in three of the casualties was a child.

In a quote which may come back to haunt the party, he said: "Communities across Scotland, indeed across the UK, will be alarmed by the apparent complacency."

The SNP's position is that guns should only be allowed for people like farmers or others who had a commercial reason for having them, and members of gun clubs.

Mr MacAskill has plans to pilot a licensing scheme to try to restrict their sale.

Today Tory MSP Bill Aitken accused the SNP of "hypocrisy" and said he would be raising the case of Hanif in the Scottish Parliament.

He said: "We have the SNP running a campaign against knife crime and holding a reasonable constructive summit on firearms but at the same time taking totally inadequate action against one of its elected representatives.

Mr Aitken added: "It's appalling hypocrisy."

The issue of airguns hit the headlines in 2005 when Easterhouse youngster Andrew Morton was hit and killed by an airgun pellet.

His death led to a petition with more than 11,000 signatures being submitted to MSPs demanding that airguns be outlawed.

More than 1000 Scots have been injured by airguns in the last eight years.

His attack follows the decision by the SNP's disciplinary committee not to eject Jahangir Hanif.

He was exposed by the Evening Times earlier this month after he was caught on camera firing the Kalashnikov at a military-style camp in Pakistan.

The wealthy 46-year-old SNP councillor, who owns property in a slum tenement in Govanhill, took five of his six children - including his five-year-old daughter - to learn how to fire the weapon in mountains in the Kashmir border.

But despite the outcry which followed and calls for his expulsion from the party, the councillor for Southside Central escaped with a two-month suspension.

Opposition politicians condemned the decision.

Labour leadership contender Mr Kerr said: "This is the party that tells us it wants to ban air rifles but doesn't have the resolve to ban one of its own councillors disgracing himself and the city of Glasgow with his flagrant disregard for public sensitivity to the use of this type of automatic weaponry in this manner.

"What sort of message is the party of government in Scotland sending to the people of Scotland when it condones such behaviour by it's elected representatives?

"The SNP's credibility on gun law and gun-related crime is now in tatters because of their failure to expel this councillor from membership.

"The people of Scotland won't understand why it refuses to act and will be particularly incensed that the SNP do not understand why this man's actions in passing this automatic weapon to his children to fire caused such offence and set such a bad example to young Scots."

Shettleston Labour MSP Frank McAveety added: "The SNP disciplinary committee might have refused to dump Jahangir Hanif, but ultimately it will be the voters who decide his future."

And Glasgow Conservative MSP Bill Aitken said: "Maybe the SNP think this an adequate disposal but frankly most people will think this man should not be holding public office.

"His conduct is a disgrace to the electorate."

The disciplinary committee, which decided Hanif's fate, met in Edinburgh at the weekend.

It agreed he had breached party discipline and rules but ruled out ejecting him from the SNP.

One newspaper report of the proceedings contained suggestions that the original media coverage of Hanif's actions had been disproportionate and racially charged.

Evening Times Editor Donald Martin said that was "a disgraceful slur".

"It is without substance and completely inaccurate."

Although the incident with the deadly rifle took place on a visit to Pakistan in December 2005, it only came to light last month.

Hanif's 17-year-old daughter, Noor, told the Evening Times how she and her siblings were taken in a blacked-out van to a training base by the millionaire councillor for Govanhill who has campaigned against crime in the community.

Chilling video footage showed Mr Hanif shooting the powerful weapon, which is capable of firing 600 rounds a minute.

Noor says she fired the gun, while her sisters and brothers were also encouraged to use the weapon.

Mr Hanif's youngest daughter Sana, just five at the time, is seen being helped to fire the gun.

His son Ameer, now 14, also shot with the Russian made AK-47 as did daughters Zainab, 13, and Amina, 10.

Ameer also claims he was taken to a shop which sold grenades, guns and knives during the trip.

Noor, a grade A student hoping to study medicine at Cambridge University, said the gun trip took place during a family holiday to Pakistan to visit relatives.

Noor, of Newton Mearns, said: "We were taken in a van with blacked-out windows.

"We were shown how to use the gun. We were shooting into the mountains.

"We all shot the gun. I wasn't happy about it."

The children's mother, Naushin, was said to be furious when she discovered that her husband had taken the children to the camp.

The 38-year-old is in the middle of divorce proceedings from Hanif after being in the arranged marriage for 18 years. The couple split not long after the trip.

When contacted by the Evening Times about the video, Hanif admitted: "I took them to a place in the mountains where you can fire AK-47s.

"It's not illegal in Pakistan."

An SNP spokeswoman today refused to comment on the race claims.

She said: "Suspension from membership of the party is a serious matter, which will stand on Councillor Hanif's record in relation to all future activity.

"It reflects that the committee found him to be guilty of a breach of party discipline and rules.

"It is, of course, subject to appeal."