Khakan was awarded a British Empire Medal in the New Year’s Honours List 2021. He received the Midlands Zone ‘Birmingham LGBTQ+ Community: Outstanding Achievement Award’ last Summer for his lead on the advocacy of LGBT education in schools, and in February 2020, was one of the recipients of the Points of Light Award presented by Downing Street.  This adds to a list of several nominations for awards relating to LGBT+ equality.

Khakan is the Founder of Finding A Voice, a voluntary led organisation for South Asians LGBT+ aged 18+ of any faith, culture, religion or disability. In 2019, Khakan, despite threats, joined No Outsiders creator Andrew Moffat to lead the Birmingham Pride parade – the very first time the parade was led by members of the LGBTQ+ Muslim community – to support ‘No Outsiders’ in schools.

Khakan has written articles about his personal experiences of being a gay Muslim for Attitude, The Gay UK, Gay Times and appeared on TV, radio and newspapers talking about representation within the gay community and mental health.