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British Pakistanis

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Pakistani Britons
File:Rangroot.jpg
File:Robinaqureshi.jpg
Top row: General Muhammed Akbar Khan, Natasha Khan, Tariq Ali
Bottom row: Amir Khan, Sajid Mahmood, Robina Qureshi
Regions with significant populations
Regions: West Midlands, Greater London,Yorkshire and The Humber, North West England, Scotland
Metropolitan Areas: Greater London, Birmingham Metro Area, Greater Manchester, Leeds-Bradford, Greater Glasgow
Cities and towns: Batley, Birmingham, Blackburn, Bolton, Bradford, Burnley, Bury, Cardiff, Coventry, Derby, Glasgow, Huddersfield, London, Luton, Manchester, Nelson, Nottingham, Oldham, Peterborough, Preston, Reading, Rochdale, Slough, Stoke-on-Trent, Walsall
Languages
Urdu, Punjabi, Pashto, English, others
Religion
Islam (Majority)
Hinduism (Minority)
Christianity (Minority)
Related ethnic groups
Overseas Pakistani, British Asian

British Pakistanis (also Pakistani Britons) are people in the United Kingdom of Pakistani ancestry. The UK has the second largest overseas Pakistani population after Saudi Arabia.

History

Pakistan came into existence in 1947, so documentation of the life of Pakistani Britons technically can only start from that year. However, Muslim immigrants from the part of British India now known as Pakistan, entered the British Isles as early as the mid-seventeenth century.

Following the Second World War and the break-up of the British Empire, Pakistani migration to the United Kingdom increased, specifically during the 1950s and 1960s, as Pakistan was a part of the Commonwealth.[citation needed]

The majority of the immigration began in the mid-1950s when manual workers were recruited to fulfil the labour shortage which resulted from World War II. Many people began immigrating from Pakistan-administered Kashmir after the completion of Mangla Dam in Mirpur in the late 1950s as well, that destroyed hundreds of villages and stimulated a large wave of migration.[citation needed]

In the years to come, many from Punjab began immigrating in the 1960s; they worked in the foundries of the English Midlands and a large number worked at Heathrow Airport as well. During the same time, medical staff from Pakistan were recruited for the newly formed National Health Service.

During the 1970s, a large number of East African Asians, who already held British passports, entered the UK after they were expelled from Kenya, Uganda and Zanzibar. The Commonwealth Immigrants Act 1962 and Immigration Act 1971 largely restricted any further primary immigration, although family members of already-settled migrants were still allowed.

Demographics

See also: Lists of U.K. locations with large ethnic minority populations § Pakistani communities

Approximately 1,000,000 Pakistanis reside in the United Kingdom, according to the Ministry of Labour, Manpower & Overseas Pakistanis (Government of Pakistan)as of June, 2004[5]. The largest population is located in the West Midlands[6].

Region Population Pakistani Population Pakistanis as Percentage of Population Cities / Boroughs with Significant Pakistani communities (2005)
West Midlands [1] 5,350,700 172,400 3.2% Birmingham - 105,000 (11.0% of the city's population) [2]
Walsall - 10,000 (5.6%)
Sandwell - 8,500 (3.0%)
Stoke-on-Trent - 7,000 (3.0%)
Dudley - 6,500 (3.3%)
Coventry - 6,500 (2.1%)
Burton-on-Trent - 4,000 (6.6%)
Wolverhampton - 3,000 (1.3%)
Greater London [3] 7,456,100 163,800 2.2% Newham - 21,000 (8.7% of the city's population)
Waltham Forest - 17,500 (7.7%)
Redbridge - 15,000 (6.6%)
Ealing - 11,500 (3.9%)
Brent - 11,000 (4.3%)
Hounslow - 9,500 (4.4%)
Croydon - 7,500 (2.6%)
Wandsworth - 5,500 (1.9%)
Harrow - 4,500 (2.5%)
Hillingdon - 4,000 (1.8%)
Barnet - 4,000 (1.6%)
Barking & Dagenham - 3,000 (2.2%)
Yorkshire and the Humber [4] 5,107,500 163,400 3.2% Bradford - 75,000 (15.3% of the city's population)
Huddersfield/Kirklees - 27,000 (6.8%)
Sheffield - 16,000 (3.0%)
Leeds - 15,500 (3.5%)
Halifax/Calderdale - 10,000 (5.0%)
Rotherham - 5,000 (4.3%)
Wakefield - 3,500 (4.4%)
North West [5] 6,839,800 133,900 2.0% Manchester - 23,500 (5.9% of the city's population) [6]
Rochdale - 16,000 (8.2%)
Oldham - 14,000 (13.5%)
Blackburn - 12,500 (11.9%)
Nelson/Pendle - 12,000 (13.1%)
Bolton - 7,000 (5.0%)
Accrington/Hyndburn - 6,000 (7.3%)
Bury - 6,000 (9.9%)
Burnley - 5,000 (5.6%)
Trafford - 3,000 (1.4%)
Stockport - 3,000 (2.2%)
South East [7] 8,184,600 71,300 0.9% Slough - 15,000 (12.0% of the city's population)
High Wycombe - 10,000 (8.5%)
Aylesbury - 5,000 (8.3%)
East [8] 5,563,000 50,800 0.9% Luton - 17,500 (9.4%)
Peterborough - 7,500 (4.6%)
Watford - 4,000 (5.0%)
East Midlands [9] 4,327,500 37,600 0.9% Nottingham - 10,000
Derby - 9,000
Leicester - 5,000
Scotland [10] 5,094,800 40,000 0.6% Glasgow - 30,000
Edinburgh - 6,500
Dundee - 2,500
North East [11] 2,549,700 17,900 0.7% Middlesbrough & Stockton-on-Tees - 7,500
Newcastle Upon Tyne - 5,000
South West [12] 5,086,700 14,400 0.3% Bristol - 4,500
Wales [13] 3,004,600 4,347 0.3% Cardiff - 3,000
Northern Ireland [14] 1,685,267 666 0.03% Belfast is likely to be home to the vast majority

London

2006 estimates state that almost 200,000 British Citizens of Pakistani origin live in the Boroughs of London (making up 2.3% of the population). The population is made up of Punjabis, Pathans, Urdu Speakers, Mirpuris and Sindhis. This mix makes the British Pakistani community of London the most diverse of any in the UK, since the population can trace their origins from all the various regions and cities of Pakistan. The largest presence is in the East London communities of Ilford, Walthamstow, Leyton and Barking, however Newham in East London continues to support the largest community. Other large communities can be found in Southall and Hounslow in West London and Tooting, Croydon and Streatham in South London. A considerable number of Pakistanis have set up their own businesses, often employing family members. Today a fifth of Pakistani Londoners are self-employed. Businesses such as grocery stores and newsagents are common, while others who arrived later in London work as taxi drivers or chauffeurs (especially from NWFP area in Pakistan). Well-known British Pakistanis from London include Anwar Pervez, whose Earl's Court grocery store expanded into the Bestway chain with a turnover of £2 billion and the playwright and author Hanif Kureishi. Younger British Pakistanis are mostly very well integrated into British society and Pakistani British are mostly well educated. Many of them are much more religious than their parents, many into Salafism.[citation needed]

Birmingham

Birmingham has one of the largest Pakistani expat communities in the World (110,900 Pakistanis made up 11.0% of the city's population in 2006).[7] Most can trace their origins to Azad Kashmir.

Manchester

The largest visible minority in Manchester are Pakistanis (Majority of Azad Kashmir and Punjabi origin) which make up 5.9% of the total population (some 26,800 people in 2006). Sizeable Pakistani populations are also to be found in the neighbouring districts of Oldham and Rochdale. Significantly, one in eight of all Pakistanis reside in Greater Manchester. This cultural diversity is expected to increase over time, given existing trends.[8]

With greater affluence, a recent trend has seen the some of the Pakistani community move out of the inner city into more spacious suburbs. In South Manchester this means that they have been moving from Longsight/Levenshulme to more suburban areas such as Cheadle, Chorlton and Heaton Mersey. Due to some of these suburbs having high house prices, the Pakistanis who live there tend to be of later generation with successful/professional careers. The inner city areas that are being left are generally filled with newer immigrants from places like Iran,Afghanistan and Poland.[15] [16][17][18]

Bradford

Bradford is well known for its large Pakistani population (largely from the Azad Kashmir region of Pakistan), and is often dubbed Bradistan by Pakistani Britons or Islamabrad by the British themselves[citation needed]. In 2001, riots escalated between the city's majority white population and the ethnic visible minorities (mainly Pakistani), and were called the Bradford Riots. The riot was estimated to have involved 1,000 youths. More than 300 police officers were hurt during the riot. There were 297 arrests in total; 187 people were charged with riot, 45 with violent disorder and 200 jail sentences totalling 604 years were handed down. In 2006, an estimated 77,100 Pakistanis resided in Bradford representing 15.6% of the city's population.[9]

Glasgow

The majority of Pakistanis living in Scotland reside in Glasgow (and the surrounding Greater Glasgow area). With an estimated 30,000 Pakistanis living in Glasgow, there are large Pakistani communities throughout the city, notably in the South and West sides with a noticeable presence of Pakistani owned businesses there. The majority have origins from the central Punjab part of Pakistan.[citation needed]

Languages

Most Pakistani Britons speak English and second, third and fourth generation Pakistani Britons consider English as their first language. Urdu is understood and spoken by many in the community and is often the language of communication between Pakistani Britons. Urdu is taught in madrassas along with Arabic. In some of the larger communities Urdu is also taught in secondary schools and colleges to GCSE and A Levels respectively. Overwhelming, the majority of Pakistanis in the Britain are from Mirpur, Azad Kashmir and the dominant languages therefore spoken are Pothwari and Hindko which are dialects of Punjabi. Other languages include Punjabi as spoken in the Punjab province, Pashto, Sindhi, Kashmiri and Balochi.

Religion

The majority 92% of Pakistanis in the UK are Muslims (mainly Sunni), however there is a sizeable minority of Shia Muslims as well as some Christians (around 8,000 people), and a few Hindus and Sikhs throughout some communities.

Culture

Pakistani Britons come together to celebrate Pakistan's Independence Day on 14 August of each year. Together with the Pakistan Consulate in London, and other embassies within the country it's mission is to project Pakistan in its true colour as a dynamic, moderate and peaceful country. The events usually occur in large Pakistani populated areas of various cities in the United Kingdom, most primarily on Green Street in Newham, London. The celebration lasts all day with various festivals. Muslim of the community mark the Islamic Festivals of Eid ul Adha and Eid ul Fitr.

Endogamy

A BBC report found that British Pakistanis, 55% of whom marry a first cousin, are 13 times more likely than the general population to produce children with genetic disorders, and that one in ten children of cousin marriages either dies in infancy or develops a serious disability. Thus Pakistani-Britons, who account for some 3% of all births in the UK, produce "just under a third" of all British children with genetic illnesses.[10]

Allegations of Extremism

Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh convicted murderer of Daniel Pearl was a Briton of Pakistani descent. In 2004 British police arrested eight British citizens of Pakistani origin on suspicion of preparing for a terrorist attack.[11] Mohammad Sidique Khan, Shehzad Tanweer, Hasib Hussain who were involved in 7 July 2005 London bombings were all British citizens of Pakistani descent. Central Intelligence Agency and MI5 currently believe that a British-born Pakistani extremist entering the US under the Visa Waiver Program is the most likely source of another terrorist spectacular on American soil.[12] Gareth Price, head of the Asia Program at the Royal Institute of International Affairs in London stated that British Pakistanis are more likely to be radicalized as compared to other Muslim communities in Britain[13]

Notable British people of Pakistani descent

See List of British people of Pakistani descent

See also

References

  1. ^ Pakistanis in England in 2006
  2. ^ Pakistanis in Scotland
  3. ^ Pakistanis in Wales
  4. ^ Pakistanis in Northern Ireland
  5. ^ STATEMENT SHOWING DISTRIBUTION OF NUMBER OF OVERSEAS PAKISTANIS LIVING/WORKING/STUDYING IN DIFFERENT REGIONS/COUNTRIES OF THE WORLD AS ON 30-6-2004.
  6. ^ Percentage distribution of Pakistani Population UK Wide
  7. ^ Pakistanis in Birmingham
  8. ^ Manchester Facts & Figures - 1
  9. ^ Pakistanis number around 75,000 in Bradford
  10. ^ Rowlatt, J, (2005) "The risks of cousin marriage", BBC Newsnight. Accessed January 28, 2007
  11. ^ British Police Arrest 8 Suspected of Plotting Terrorist Attack, The New York Times, 2004-03-31
  12. ^ CIA warns Barack Obama that British terrorists are the biggest threat to the US
  13. ^ Why Britain Increasingly Worries About Pakistani Terrorism, U.S. News & World Report, 2008-12-24
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