First Pakistani-American picked by Bernie Sanders to run presidential campaign

In a first, US Senator Bernie Sanders has appointed Pakistani-American civil rights activist Faiz Shakir as his presidential campaign manager.

With his historic appointment, Shakir has  become the first Muslim, consequently the first Pakistani-American ever to be entrusted with the responsibility  of  holding position as campaign manager of a 2020 US presidential campaign.

Shakir was born to Pakistani immigrant parents. He was the national political director with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the iconic civil rights group that has led the challenge against US president Donald Trump on multiple fronts, especially immigration.

He also rendered services as a senior adviser to the then top Democratic senator Harry Reid and had also worked in association with the staff of the top House Democrat Nancy Pelosi, who is emerging as Trump’s most formidable opponent.

Shakir shot to prominence as an editor at the website ThinkProgress, the news arm associated with, though editorially independent of, the powerhouse Democratic think-tank Center for American Progress.