 He was Speaker of the Punjab Legislative Assembly from 1997 to 2002 and again from 2012 to 2017.Sardar Atwal was born to a Sikh family in Montgomery, Punjab Province, British India (Punjab in Pakistan after partition in 1947).Sardar Atwal's family, like many Punjabis migrated to Indian Punjab as refugees when they found themselves living on the wrong side of the border.