All CategoriesKashmiri DiasporaKFM CONFERENCE 22nd August 2004 Green Lane Community Centre Birmingham
Kashmiri Diaspora:- Myths, Perceptions, Invisibility, marginalisation and its impacts.
Daalat Ali
Kashmir National Identity Campaign (KNIC) Coordinator UK
Abstract: Recent research has shown that around 80% of the all ethnic minorities classified as having Pakistanis heritage are infect from Kashmir. In other words culturally, linguistically, and ethnically they are completely separate. Their migration began well before Pakistan was created and seems to have chain migration characteristics, There seem to be many reasons for it including economic and fleeing violence and oppression. UK Kashmiris came from agrarian background and settled in mainly industrial towns and cities primarily in the north and midland. 1970's manufacturing collapse devastated Kashmiri community, and in some areas Kashmiri unemployment was as high as 60-70%, This then gave rise to self employment culture and today's Kashmiri can be seen running taxis or restaurants, However, Kashmiri third and forth generation continue to experience poverty and suffer from their parent's legacy. Kashmiri youngsters are likely to suffer 7 times more unemployment than other South Asian youngsters and are many more times likely to represent criminal justice system. Kashmiris primarily live in inner city areas, This geographic entrapment is represented in Pakistanis educational underachievement, health inequalities, overcrowding, low income per house hold and are more likely to be stopped and searched. There seem to be no visible plans to change the plight of Kashmiri community at local or national levels. Despite nation wide lobbies the British state and society continues to exclude and marginalise Kashmiri community from all systems at its peril. However, recently many Local authorities and other public service providers have made efforts to include this ethnic group in their monitoring systems with positive results. The issue of identity or lack of it or wrongly labelling e.g. Pakistani or Mirpuri has far reaching effect on the community here in Britain and back home.
In Britain service planners and providers can not plan or provide culturally and linguistically appropriate services to almost 2% of its overall population which is Kashmiri, Hence the government itself misses out on a very large potential economic contributor. Instead of collecting taxes ends up containing riots.
Kashmiris in UK are wrongly registered as Pakistanis or Indians at birth by ONS, That excludes Kashmiris from all rights in the state including, Hereditary, Democratic, and even right to visit in special circumstances, in line with state subject legislation introduced in 1927 and many other draconian measured introduced by foreign occupiers.
Internationally, the current British Government has emphasised for inclusion of Kashmiris in all negotiations but at home it continues to exclude Kashmiris i.e. Despite this Government's introduction of many inclusion drives including Race relations amendment act, European Human rights act, and rafts and rafts of other inclusion acts and drives, Kashmiris remain an invisible and marginalised community in UK.
Introduction
There are more than half a million Kashmiris living in UK and similar number of Kashmiris are spread all over the world including Europe. The biggest Kashmiri concentration seems to be in Britain, However, the British state and society does not recognise Kashmiri ethnicity. This seems to be the case in all spheres as far as Kashmiris are concerned in that every one talks about Kashmir but no body wants to talk to Kashmiris. This paper aims to high light the implications of Kashmiri none recognition, both in Britain (every day life) and back home in relation to democratic and hereditary rights.
Background
Kashmir was an independent state for many centuries in the past under different rules until the Second World War (1947), at the time of British leaving South Asia, Kashmir remained an independent state for less than a year and thereafter ceased to exist as a country in the face of Pakistani and Indian invasion. This state with five thousand years chronological history1 became merely a disputed territory between India and Pakistan and fifty years on after three wars, tens of thousands deaths, hundreds of thousands people made homeless, India and Pakistan decided to talk about the disputed territory but not to its inhabitants. This Kashmiri exclusion does not stop there, it seems as though this phenomena travels with Kashmiri Diaspora the world over.
It is widely believed in all social research circles that two third of the Pakistanis are infact of the Kashmiri origin (Ballard,1991)2 in other words they are Pakistanis by virtue of Passport, like most South Asians are British (Ali 1999)3 Others put the figure at 80% to 90% Professor Nazir Tabbasam in his paper A Phonological Analysis of Pahari language4, writes:-
“People who migrated to UK on Pakistani passports, 80% were of Kashmiri origin. They are quite distinct from the rest of the South Asians not only culturally and linguistically but ethnically too"
Dr Tahir Abbass, of Birmingham University, one of the few Kashmiri academics in Britain, states:
“There are 747,000 Pakistanis in Britain. I estimate that about 80% of Pakistanis are from the Mirpur region-which means that over half a million people are Mirpuri speakers in this country. In Birmingham, there are 100,000 Pakistanis-one in ten of the population. Therefore, with 80 to 90,000 speaking Pahari they are by far the second largest language group in the city."5
Other researchers who have carried out some work with Kashmiri community have quoted similar numbers, These include Dr Virinder Singh Kalra Manchester university, Kashmiri workers in Oldham PhD thesis, Ali Ellis and Khan (1996) The 1990s: A time to separate British Punjabi and Kashmiris, including various broad sheet reports at the time of Leeds inner city riots
Sunday observer report June 24, 2001
Htt://www.guardian.co.uk/britain/article/o,2763,511822,00.html
In the aftermath of the riots-reported purely as an explosion of British Asian rage-Leeds ethnic residents complained of racial stereotyping. The city has been home, for nearly 50 years, to 10,000 Mirpuris, while nearby Bradford now has 40,000 Mirpuris, traditionally from agrarian background; originate from a city called Mirpur situated in Southern Kashmir.
Kashmiri Migration-Historically: In General, And to Britain
As mentioned above it is an established fact that there are half to one million people of Kashmiri descent residing in UK and their culture language and way of life is different than that of the rest of the South Asians including Pakistani Punjabis. There are a great number of Kashmiris working in Middle East, Far East, Europe and America.
Historically, the Pahari region has a tradition of sending at least one member of the each family abroad to supplement the income of the extended family. From the Pahari region which consists of districts of Mirpur, Poonch, Rajori, Kotli, Mehendar, Bhimber and Muzzafarabad , men joined the British merchant fleet operating from Bombay as stokers and other hard and low paid roles. Particularly during both the world wars Kashmiris from Mirpur and Poonch became an important source of recruitment for the British.
Kashmiris also joined the arm forces of British India and like thousands of other servicemen from the sub-continent, served in the war with allied forces in many parts of the world, both as part of the Kashmiri contingent and directly serving in the British Indian army6. Victoria Schofield, In her book Kashmir in crisis states" In the world war two there were 71667 Kashmiri Jawans serving in the British Army." At the end of both world wars some of these Kashmiris working on the ships settled in Britain. These early migrants became known as pioneers and for some unknown reason are referred to as Mirpuris rather than Kashmiris especially by Pakistani academics like Anwar Khan and Dr Malik (Anwar 1979)7 The pioneers became an important factor in chain migration subsequently from Azad Kashmir in the 1950s.
The construction of Mangla dam was completed in 1968, it resulted in about 20,000 families being displaced with out any real resettlement programme. The displacement of population, tradition of moving away in search of work and knowledge of roots set by pioneer Kashmiris contributed towards migration to Britain. Dam Compensation was paid only to people who owned land and there were a lot of farmhands who got nothing at all and very little was paid to land owners too, so passage to Britain depended on borrowing from nearest and dearest. The process of migration which could be described as chain migration thus came in to operation. In other words, Kashmiris had to find a new home and avoid starvation and Britain needed willing and able labour force in the 1950s and 1960s8 (Ellis and Khan, 1999a:123)
Traditionally Kashmiri migrant worker never settled abroad and always returned home when he thought he had earned enough. He would go home spend the money and start on new quest. Building of the Mangla dam coincided with the immigration act of 1962. This act placed restrictions on new economic migrants but nevertheless created legal opportunities for those who were already in Britain to bring in families and dependants. With the arrival of wives and children Kashmiris started settling and becoming permanent. This brought new dimensions for migrant settlers in social, cultural and religious domains.
British Kashmiri History
99% of the British Kashmiri emigrated from the Pahari region of districts Kotli, Poonch, Rajori, Mehendar, Noshara, Bhimber, and Mirpur. Unlike other groups from South Asia, with the exception perhaps of the Bangladeshi community, Kashmiris who immigrated to Britain since 1950s came predominantly from agrarian backgrounds. Nearly all immigrants of Kashmiri origin lacked adequate education with significant numbers illiterate.
Unskilled, unable to speak English, Kashmiris were employed to do jobs which no body else would do. They primarily worked in textile and steel industries largely in night shifts, while the other Urban educated Indian and Pakistanis settled in the more affluent south and worked in service industry. Hence, today Kashmiris can be found largely in northern cities of Bradford, Leeds and Sheffield and also around midland like Birmingham, Wolverhampton, Coventry and Walsall.
With the decline in Britain's manufacturing industry in the 1970s especially in the north and Midland, the Kashmiri community was disproportionately disadvantaged compared to other minority ethnic groups. The economic effect on the Kashmiri community has been profound with long term consequences. With reliance on large manufacturing industries for employment, racial discrimination in the job market and no opportunities given for training to explore other employment opportunities by the 1980's was economically devastated suffering from large levels of unemployment. This was despite the fact that this community had contributed to the economic success of Britain during the previous two-decades.
However, through self-sufficiency and support from within the community a new self-employed culture arose. This explains the mushrooming of taxi and Asian restaurant businesses throughout Britain, Which in many large cities has been Kashmiri phenomenon.
Today's British Kashmiri
Despite the economic shift towards self-employment, the second third and now even fourth generation Kashmiris are suffering from their parent's legacy. Many young British Kashmiris lack professional role models in their own community and the demographic location further perpetuates social/economic disadvantage. This growing community has unacceptable levels of unemployment (possibly up to 7 times more likely to be out of work) and is disproportionately more likely to be in the criminal justice system. Worst of all perhaps is the lack of identity; self perpetuates a sense of not belonging unlike other groups. As a result, a significant socio/economic potential in Britain is being wasted.
Evidence from the various local, national, statutory and voluntary bodies including the commission for Racial Equality Runnymede Trust, Joseph Rowntree Foundation academia suggest that Pakistanis and Bangladeshi suffer the most disadvantages in all aspects of life in Britain. This includes for example:-
· More likely to be subject to racial harassment,
· Less likely to obtain work(5 times more likely to be unemployed),
· Under- achievement in education,
· Living in over crowded conditions,
· Health inequalities,
· Low income per house hold.
It should be noted with some concern that Kashmiri community suffers racial harassment like other south Asian communities on the hands of wider society and prejudism and bigotry from other south Asian groups. This can be compared to the prejudism suffered by Irish community on the hands of the English. It is for that reason Irish were recognised a minority group by CRE and included for the first time in 2001 census. Perhaps it is for that reason Kashmiris are marginalised in main stream service industry as well as BME related voluntary and other white collar Jobs.
However if the Kashmiris community were distinguished from Pakistanis the level of disadvantages would be much higher. This would, based on the limited evidence available make British Kashmiris one of the most disadvantaged community in Britain.
Although the Government has not agreed to include a separate "Kashmiri" category with a tick box for the 2001 census (despite the principle of Kashmiri being a separate ethnic community and the rational appear to have been accepted). Many Local authorities realising the gap in their monitoring system for service provisions to the communities they serve have included Kashmiri category for monitoring purposes, these include:-
Bradford,
Leeds,
Kirklees,
Rotherham,
Rochdale,
Oldham,
Manchester,
Pendle,
Trafford,
Birmingham,
Bolton,
High Wycombe
Luton
Hyndburn
Knowsley and
Many more are considering inclusion. Other public service providers who have recognised Kashmiri community are:-
Leeds health trust, Yorkshire and the Humber help the aged.
Kashmiri Identity
The question of national identity is significant on account of the uncertain political and constitutional status of their region of origin and its division between India and Pakistan, who strongly contest the ownership of the territory. The issue is inextricably bound up in both the colonial and post-colonial periods (Z. Khan university of Luton 2000)9 . However the Kashmiri presence in Britain needs to be seen in the broader context of post -war migration to Britain from her former colonies, and the issue of recognition should not be confused with current South Asian political situation. It should clearly be detached from all external influences and treated as purely being British equality issue.
As Parekh argues:-
A good society should aim to ensure equal treatment to all its citizens, including its cultural minorities. However well-intentioned and generous it might be, its capacity to do so is limited. First it has a particular character and cultural identity which it has acquired over the centuries and which is deeply woven in to its way of life. It is necessarily partial to its way of life and can not treat all its constituents’ ways of life impartially. (Parekh,1998: 410)10
Theories apart, on a more practical service delivery and employment discrimination level, it is imperative that effective ethnic monitoring is conducted and it is for this reason the central government over the years have brought in legislation after legislation to make sure that no body is discriminated against on the basis of their race, ethnicity, gender, religion and sexual orientation. This includes Race relations act 1976, European Human rights act, Race Relation Amendment act 2000 and other equality and accessibility legislations and quangos.
Ethnic monitoring is a very important issue. Ethnic groups are groups of people within a larger population who have shared history, customs, values and beliefs. Every one has an ethnic identity; the term does not only apply to non-white people.
Ethnic monitoring is about asking people to define their own ethnicity from a list of pre-determined categories. It is important not to confuse ethnicity with nationality, citizenship or place of birth11. A monitoring system based on ethnic origin rather than nationality produces a more detailed picture as it allows for the identification of differences within (e.g. Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Indian) as well as between (e.g. Asian, African, Caribbean, White) ethnic groups. Without good information about who is and is not using your service, you can never be sure that you are reaching the whole community. The most common categories used are those from the census.
The census is carried out every ten years and it includes questions on housing, education, employment, health, business, nationality, ethnicity and economic activity. This than provides essential information on socio-economic mapping demographically and geographically, which than gives central and local service providers to plan and deliver services based on the data obtained. Therefore any community or ethnic group excluded from the census becomes invisible and marginalised.
Exclusion
Kashmiris suffer exclusion at all levels. It seems as though everybody wants to talk about Kashmir but not to Kashmiris for example, to their credit current Labour Government's last foreign minister Robin Cook went on record in Delhi during his Indian official visit where he talked about Kashmir and Kashmiri inclusion, before that the shadow foreign secretary Gerald Kaufman visited Kashmir and made similar suggestions, more recently The Priminister Tony Blair went on record by saying that Kashmiris must be included in Indian and Pakistan discussions on the issue, this than followed by series of meetings held by foreign office with British Kashmiris and most recently European union sent an ad hoc fact finding delegation consisting of the MEPS lead by Mr John Cushnahan (from Ireland). The delegation included members from Britain including Labour MEP Glynford. The delegation made six recommendations including inclusion of Kashmiris from both sides of Kashmir in all future negotiations. However, this human rights delegation completely excludes Kashmiri Diaspora from all its recommendations.12
Despite all that British Kashmiris at the time of 2001 census campaigned very hard with the same politicians for inclusion. The very politicians who rightly advocate for Kashmiris inclusion at political level in South Asian context are responsible for Kashmiri exclusion and Marginalisation in Britain. As a result British Kashmiri continues to suffer invisibility and marginalisation. Hence Kashmiri poverty, Educational underachievement, housing overcrowding, unemployment, Over representation in criminal system, Health inequalities go undetected,. Due to lack of data on Kashmiris Service planners and providers can not provide culturally and linguistically appropriate services like they do for other BME communities.
Kashmiris in UK continue to suffer bigotry and prejudism from other South Asian communities in employment and every day life, but due to none recognition no court in the land would entertain them because such guide lines are taken from CRE or Home office. According to both of them Kashmiris do not exist; they are Pakistanis, Indian, Muslim or Asian. Generally in Britain Asian means Indian and Muslim means Pakistani. Kashmiris can choose to be any four of the categories mentioned above but not Kashmiris.
In the last census more than 20,000 people self expressed as Kashmiris and a recent research (Report not finalised yet) carried out in one of the Wards in Leeds. Primary data suggests that a very big number of Kashmiris did not return census forms simply because they thought it was not for them.
Both India and Pakistan continue to fight over Kashmir but both Exclude Kashmiris from any meaningful consultation, dialogue or decision making process. This has been going on for the last fifty odd years for example Kashmiris were excluded at the United Nation in late 1940's during successive debates and resolutions on the future of the state. Tashkent talks took place after 1965 war between India and Pakistan to control the state, Kashmiri were no where to be seen , this was the case at Shimla , talks on Kashmir between Mrs Ghandi and Z.A Bhutto than Priminister of Pakistan. This seems to be the case during the current dialogue on the issue between India and Pakistan.
Implications
British Government seems to be in breach of local, national , European and international human rights acts and in breach of full filling its legal and moral duties and responsibilities by deliberately denying and excluding Kashmiri ethnicity from mainstream and this continues to have detrimental effect on Kashmiri community residing in UK. The implications are:-
· Kashmiris continue to suffer marginalisation which hinders their development as a community,
· There are less opportunities for Kashmiris in employment and service delivery like other BME communities,
· Kashmiris continue to suffer prejudism and bigotry from other BME groups without any protection or even recognition or acknowledgement of these occurrences.
· All Kashmiri generations continue to suffer from lack of ethnic identity but perhaps the younger generation is suffering more than the other age groups for example :-
Bigotry from other South Asians towards Kashmiri youngsters, and British state and society’s failure to recognise Kashmiri ethnicity naturally marginalises Kashmiri youngsters, which often seeks acceptance or rebels. In the case of acceptance seeks refuge in Islamic identity and is likely to become member of a number of extremist groups like Hazib-T or al- Majroon. There are number of example that we could refer to, the suicide bomber from Derby was from Kashmir (Poonch), Many British youngsters caught in Afghanistan were of Kashmiri origin and many suspects caught on suspicion over the year or so were Kashmiris.
In the second category of rebelling inner city Kashmiri youngsters make black Americans their heroes and contrary to their parents are often seen in big gold chains, often are unemployed, walk with a limp and often end up being exploited by criminal gangs. 1990’s Bradford, Oldham, Leeds and many more towns and cities up and down the country were engulfed in massive riots. It was the Kashmiri identity less youngster rioting, despite all that British government continue to ignore Kashmiri identity and all the reports continue to report Kashmiris as Muslims, Asians or Pakistanis. At the time of the Leeds riots in 2001 Kashmiri community complained against Sunday Observer and Guardian of racial stereotyping.13 i.e. reporting Kashmiris as Asian, Muslim and Pakistani.
Kashmiris over the last five decades have suffered political imprisonment, prosecutions both by India and Pakistan. This has been more so after 1989. This has resulted in Kashmiri people fleeing violence and seeking asylum abroad including UK. UK Immigration authorities relaying on often Indian and Pakistani Urdu ,Punjabi or Hindi speaking interpreters have interviewed theses poor Kashmiris. Can you imagine the plight of those violence fleeing Kashmiris. The very people they are running away from are interrogating them again. (it is like Gestapo interviewing Jews fleeing Germany).
Above are some of the implications of Kashmiri none recognition in UK but the storey does not end here, as mentioned above there are number of UN resolutions outstanding on Kashmir. One of them is on plebiscite on the future of Kashmir. As it stands the Kashmiri Diaspora which forms almost 12% of the whole of Kashmiri population can not vote in determining its future.
There is a Kashmiri nationality act, known as state subject which was introduced by Maharaja of Kashmir on 24th of April 1927. State subject is equal to British nationality. This piece of legislation is recognised and respected by both India and Pakistan (probably UN condition) until the future of the country is decided by plebiscite. This act prohibits any none Kashmiri to own, buy sell or inherit land or property in the state. The office of National Statistics (ONS) does not recognise Kashmiris therefore Kashmiris born in this country are considered ethnically as Pakistanis or Indians. Hence they loose all hereditary rights.
Over the years rafts and rafts of legislations have been introduced by India and Pakistan which makes visiting Kashmir discretionary .Hence, second and subsequent generations of Kashmiris have no automatic right to visit their home land or their kith and kin in Kashmir.
Conclusion
It is concluded that:-
In UK 80% of so called Pakistanis are infact of Kashmiri origin with a very long shared history, culture, language and values, which are very different from other South Asians.
Pioneer Kashmiris migrated to Britain long before Pakistan or India were freed and created, this migration accelerated after occupation of Kashmir, this was due to lack of work opportunities in Sub-continent and this became chain migration after Mangla dam.
British Kashmiri migrated from the Pahari region of Kashmir and settled in Northern towns and cities where textile and steel labour was needed.1970's saw industrial decline with it came massive unemployment, poverty and the quality of life of Kashmiris suffered horrendously.
Kashmiri second, third and even fourth generation can be seen driving taxis and running take Away's. Though they became self employed but are still suffering from their parent’s legacy and continue to underachieve, suffer from bad health, over represented in criminal justice system, suffer from overcrowding and are geography
Trapped in poverty stricken inner cities.
Majority of the British Kashmir's mother tongue is Pahari and that Mirpuri is a British phenomenon but can be seen as a dialect of Pahari. However, there are many languages spoken in the state of Jammu Kashmir.
Despite being a very large community, Kashmiris continue to be invisible within British state and society.
Kashmiri community is excluded at all levels, locally and nationally. Very little is known by British state & society about this very large ethnic group, hence they are not included in any kind of service planning or provision, this seems to be the case across the board.
There are devastating effects of Kashmiri community's exclusion, If this trend continues by the next census which is due in 2011 20% to 30% of the whole of Kashmiri population would have been cleans of its Kashmiriyat and this would have been done with British and European none recognition of Kashmiri ethnicity.
At the time of 2001 census a golden opportunity to include Kashmiri category was wasted by the central Government.
Despite participation and numerous communications in the consultation for 2011 census, it seems as though the census people are not taking any note and continue to put emphasis on the nation states rather than its customer, however, in the cases of Kurdish and gypsies they make exceptions.
Recommendation
It is recommended that:
Kashmiri community should be included for monitoring purposes at local, national and European level as an ethnic group and should not be mixed with Pakistanis, Indians or other South Asian groups or communities. Clear distinction should be drawn between Nationality and ethnicity.
British who's mother tongue is Pahari, and can not communicate in English should be provided interpreters in Pahari rather than Urdu, Punjabi and other South Asian languages
The ethnicity monitoring should be viewed as a British Kashmiri (ethnic community) issue rather than South Asian political issue.
The central government should introduce Kashmiri monitoring at Local Government Association (LGA) level and the Office of National Statistics(ONS) should introduce this category for registration of births and deaths.
ONS should include Kashmiri organisations for consultation purposes for the design of 2011 census at the outset and commission research on the plight of Kashmiri community living in Britain.
All Government departments should include Kashmiri category for monitoring purposes at ministerial level and home office should instruct CRE to look in to it like the travellers at the moment and the Irish after 1991 census.
All national and regional research institutes should recognise Kashmiri community living in UK and move away from the nation of Mirpuri and should not dilute Kashmiri community's special cultural ,linguistic and value base with Pakistani Punjabis or Muslims in a broader context.
Kashmiri Diaspora should be included in any consultation/decision making process on the future of Kashmir.
References
1 Pandat, Kalhana, Raj Trangani, a comprehensive five thousand years chronological commentary on Kings and way of life in ancient Kashmir
P.N.K. Bamzai, History of Kashmir
M.Y.Saraf Kashmiri fight for freedom
2 Ballard, R (1991) Kashmir crisis, A view from Mirpur, Economic and political weekly-2-9: 513-17.
3 Ali. N (1999) Community and Individual, Identity of the Kashmiri community in Luton, PhD thesis university of Luton
4 Pro Tabbasam .N.A A research paper written under the supervision of J.M.Y, Simpson, the senior lecturer in the department of English language, university of Glasgow.
5 Dr T. Abbass: Birmingham university, a quote by Dr T, Abbass in a paper written by KNIC Birmingham branch, in support of Pahari language, July 2004
6 Victoria Schofield Kashmir in crisis p133
7 Anwar, M (1979) myth of return: Pakistanis in Britain, Heinemann London
8 Ellis, P, & Khan Z (1999a) Political allegiances and integration: The British Kashmiri in Weil,S (Ed) Roots and routes, Ethnicity and Migration in global perspective, Magnus prem, the Hebrew press university of: Jerusalem.
9 Z, Khan University of Luton, Diaspora communities and identity formation, the post-colonial Kashmiri experience in Britain.
10 Parekh (1998), page 410
11 Leeds NHS Trust Diversity and involvement Guide, for primary care trust Pages 15 and 43-45Produced in 2004.
12 Marjan Lukas, IKV A report on European Parliament's ad hoc delegation to both sides of Kashmir, Brussels, 28 July 2004.
13 Riots report Sunday observer June 24, 2001 and Guardian articlehht://www.guardian.co.UK/britain/article/0,2763,511822,00.html
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