Sylhetis
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Sylheti Diaspora
The Sylheti diaspora refers to the descendants of ethnic Sylhetis who emigrated out of the Sylhet Division, Bangladesh, region to the rest of world. The Sylheti diaspora numbers around one million, mainly concentrated in Britain, North America, Southeast Asia and the Middle East. A study from 2008 shows that, Britain have the largest number of Sylheti diaspora where 200,000 people speak Sylheti, which is 95% of total number of Bangladeshi people in UK.[1] According to the census of 2009 it shows the actual number is lot higher.[2] Sylhetis in the homeland have conversely affected by remittances send from across the world and the community has been suffering from lack of government initiatives causing development inertia.[3]
Early History
Sylheti diaspora emerged due to a need for an economic sustenance, young men searching for better employment elsewhere led to the foundation of Sylheti Diaspora. In the heyday of the British Raj, when young men from the land of Sylhet worked as lascars in the British merchants marine, some jumping the ship in London in search of better life and others found alternative routes to enter the motherland, causing chain migration and eventual settlement in working class neighbourhoods of London’s East End. Many of the Sylheti men moved on and found better working conditions in industrial cities and towns such as Luton, Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds, Bradford, Oldham and so on [4]. Sylhet is a seafaring nation; going to the sea is in the blood of all Sylheti and it was a daredevil adventure for Sylheti young men until the land reform forced upon them by the British Raj in 1793 CE, which altered the entire social, political and economic landscape of the country and going to the sea became a necessity. Young men from Sylhet board ship mainly at Kolkata, Mumbai and Singapore. Some of these early Sylheti seamen visited Britain and America sought employment; although by virtue of Magna Carta Libertatum, there were no legal restriction on them to enter and leave Britain freely, some authors have played the ship jumping rather disproportionately without realising that the Sylheti seamen knew they could visit the motherland without making any declaration of intent, which was required to enter the USA. The early recorded history indicates a strong connection between Sylheti Diaspora and the Sylheti seamen [5].
Notables
- Mohammad Ataul Karim, Scientist
- Sir Fazle Hasan Abed, KCMG
- Anwar Choudhury, Diplomat
- Saiman Miah, Designer of London 2012 Olympic Royal Mint
- Irene Khan, Former Secretary General of Amnesty International
- Rushanara Ali, Member of Parliament
- Khatun Sapnara
- Alaur Rahman, singer and music composer
- Enam Ali, MBE, FRSA
- Shelim Hussain, MBE
- Iqbal Ahmed, OBE British billionaire
- Wali Tasar Uddin, MBE
- Ajmal Masroor, Television presenter
- Tommy Miah, FRSA, Celebrity chef
References
- ^ Benjamin Zeitlyn (September 2008). "Challenging Language in the Diaspora" (PDF). Bangla Journal. 6 (14): 126–140. Retrieved 2015-08-13.
- ^ Neighbourhood Statistics (2007). "Lead View Trend". neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk. Retrieved 2015-08-13.
- ^ Yong, T.T.; Rahman, M.M. (2013). Diaspora Engagement and Development in South Asia. Palgrave Macmillan. p. 108. ISBN 9781137334459. Retrieved 2015-08-13.
- ^ Claire Alexander, Joya Chaterji and Annu Jalais, The Bengal Diaspora: Rethinking Muslim Migration, p.2, Routledge (2015) London.
- ^ Across Seven Seas and Thirteen Rivers: Life Stories of Pioneer Sylheti Settlers in Britain, Caroline Adams, Tassaduq Ahmed and Dan Jones , THAP (1987), London, ISBN-10: 0906698146 ISBN-13: 978-0906698143
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