British Mirpuris

The British Mirpuri (Urdu: برطانوی میرپوری ‎) community comprises people in the United Kingdom who originate from the Mirpur District in Azad Kashmir, Pakistan, thus being a part of the Mirpuri diaspora. While no accurate statistics are available, an estimated 60 to 70 per cent of British Pakistanis in England have origins in the Mirpur District.

British Mirpuris
Total population
Approximately 60–70 per cent of the British Pakistani population (estimate for England only)
Regions with significant populations
Birmingham, Bradford, Oldham, Luton, Slough and surrounding towns
Languages
Urdu, Potwari, English (British)
Religion
Islam
Related ethnic groups
British Asian

The community speaks the Mirpuri/Pothohari which are dialects of the Punjabi language and are mainly from the Jat Muslim, Gujar and the Bains/Vains Rajput community of Azad Jammu & Kashmir.[1] The first generation Mirpuris were not highly educated, and they had little or no experience of urban living in Pakistan.[2]

Mirpuris started settling down in Britain in the 1940s, transferring their workmanship on British merchant navy ships to the industrial needs of the growing British economy. The migration accelerated after the construction of the Mangla Dam in 1966, which submerged vast areas of farmland in the Mirpur district.[3]

Mirpuris in Britain are still in touch with family back home in Azad Kashmir as remittances are sent back to them to help fund farmland and family businesses.

Population

A report produced for the Department for Communities and Local Government in 2009 on the Pakistani Muslim community in England stated "There are no accurate figures available but it is estimated that 60 per cent of the Pakistani population is from the Mirpur District". However, it also noted that the Mirpuri Development Project has estimated that approximately 70% of British Pakistanis are Mirpuris. Large Mirpuri communities can be found in Birmingham, Bradford, Oldham and the surrounding towns.[4] Luton and Slough have the largest Mirpuri communities in southern England.[5]

Cultural dislocation

The large number of Mirpuris in the United Kingdom has many causes. Mirpur was considered to be a conservative district in 1960s, and life in its rural villages was dominated by rigid hierarchies. In the late 1950s and early 1960s, the Government of Pakistan planned the Mangla Dam, which was to be built in the Mirpur area. Several thousand people had to move. Coincidentally, Britain at that time needed cheap workers, mainly for textile factories as British workers had begun to become expensive due to rising wages. Up to 5,000 people from Mirpur (5% of the displaced)[6] left for Britain, and the displaced Mirpuris were given legal and financial assistance by the British contractor that built the dam.[7]

Many started working in factories, mostly in the so-called "Black Country" near Birmingham, and in Bradford and Leeds. In some villages of Mirpur, more than half of the people moved to the United Kingdom to settle in the industrial towns. The rural, impoverished district provided cheap, unskilled labour for Britain in the 1960s and the 1970s.

Families tend to be close-knit and the guiding influence behind everything from marriage to business.[8]

The Mirpuris live in some of the most segregated areas of Britain, and their children attend the most segregated schools.[9] The British government has made attempts to improve community cohesion by nurturing a sense of shared or collective national identity. One programme designed to encourage greater social mixing includes the busing of students of Pakistani origin to "white schools", in an attempt to bridge the divide between the British Pakistani and white British ethnic groups.[10]

Remittances

In 1960s, Mirpur was considered to be a rural and conservative area. Due to the Mirpuri diaspora, the region witnessed great economic progress in last three decades and has become one of the most prosperous areas of Pakistan.[11]

Health and social issues

Endogamy and kinship

Cousin marriages or marriages within the same tribe and caste system are common in some parts of South Asia, including rural areas of Pakistan.[12] A major motivation is to preserve patrilineal tribal identity.[13] The tribes to which British Mirpuris belong include Awans. As a result, there are some common genealogical origins within these tribes.[14] Some Mirpuri British Pakistanis view cousin marriages as a way of preserving this ancient tribal tradition and maintaining a sense of brotherhood.[15]

A study published in 1988 in the Journal of Medical Genetics, which looked specifically at two hospitals in West Yorkshire, found that the rate of consanguineous marriage was 55 per cent and rising,[16] compared to a worldwide rate of 29 per cent.[17] However, representatives of constituencies where there are high Pakistani populations say that consanguineous marriages amongst British Pakistanis are now decreasing in number, partly because of public health initiatives.[18]

Forced marriage

According to the British Home Office, as of 2000, more than half the cases of forced marriage investigated involve families of Pakistani origin, followed by Bangladeshis and Indians.[19] The Home Office estimates that 85 per cent of the victims of forced marriages are women aged 15–24, 90 per cent are Muslim, and 90 per cent are of Pakistani or Bangladeshi heritage.[20] 60 per cent of forced marriages by Pakistani families were linked to the small towns of Bhimber and Kotli and the city of Mirpur.[21]

Identity

In 2009, a consultation was undertaken into the effects of providing an individual tick-box for "Kashmiri" people in the UK census. The majority of those who took part in the consultation chose to self-identify as Pakistani and a decision was taken not to introduce a Kashmiri tick-box for the ethnic group question in the 2011 census.[22]

The following ethnic codes are used in UK school ethnicity profiles:[23]

  • AMPK: Mirpuri Pakistani
  • AKPA: Kashmiri Pakistani
  • AKAO: Kashmiri Other
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See also

References

The Guardian, 17 June 2002, "British Muslims series – A Map of Muslim Britain":

  • Muslim population 1.8 million (3% of total British population)
  • The Muslim population of London – 1 million (total 7.2 million); Birmingham – 150,000 (1 million) – this includes the world's biggest expatriate Kashmiri population
  • Scotland 60,000 (33,000 in Glasgow); Wales 50,000; Northern Ireland 4000
  1. Census of India 1901 Volume 23A Jammu and Kashmir Part 2 Government of India Press
  2. Werbner, Pnina (2005). "Pakistani migration and diaspora religious politics in a global age". In Ember, Melvin; Ember, Carol R.; Skoggard, Ian (eds.). Encyclopedia of Diasporas: Immigrant and Refugee Cultures around the World. New York: Springer. pp. 475–484. ISBN 0-306-48321-1.
  3. Ballard, Roger (2002), "The South Asian presence in Britain and its transnational connections" (PDF), in H. Singh; S. Vertovec (eds.), Culture and economy in the Indian diaspora, London: Routledge, pp. 197–222
  4. Department for Communities and Local Government. "The Pakistani Muslim Community in England" (PDF). Department for Communities and Local Government. pp. 5–11 (6), 36–41. Archived from the original (PDF) on 19 September 2012. Retrieved 2 November 2010.
  5. Instead. "The raise project". Yorkshire Forward. Retrieved 20 December 2010.
  6. "Muslims In Britain: Past And Present". Islamfortoday.com. Archived from the original on 24 March 2010. Retrieved 27 April 2010.
  7. Kinship and continuity: Pakistani families in Britain. Routledge. 2000. pp. 26–32. ISBN 978-90-5823-076-8. Retrieved 27 April 2010.
  8. "The limits to integration", BBC News, 30 November 2006
  9. Samira Shackle (20 August 2010). "The mosques aren't working in Bradistan". New Statesman. Retrieved 30 October 2010.
  10. Anthony Browne (5 May 2004). "We can't run away from it: white flight is here too". The Times. Retrieved 30 October 2010.
  11. Shiv Malik (25 July 2005). "A community in denial". New Statesman. Retrieved 23 December 2010.
  12. "Birth defects warning sparks row". BBC News. 10 February 2008. Retrieved 26 December 2010.
  13. DeVotta, Neil (2003). Understanding Contemporary India. London: Lynne Rienner. pp. 232–237. ISBN 1-55587-958-6.
  14. Monika Böck and Aparna Rao (2000). Culture, Creation, and Procreation: Concepts of Kinship in South Asian Practice. Berghahn Books. pp. 81–157. ISBN 1-57181-912-6. ... Kalesh kinship is indeed orchestrated through a rigorous system of patrilineal descent defined by lineage endogamy
  15. Zafar Khan. "Diasporic Communities and Identity Formation". University of Luton. Retrieved 26 December 2010.
  16. The frequency of consanguineous marriage among British Pakistanis, Journal of Medical Genetics 1988;25:186–190
  17. "Pakistan Faces Genetic Disasters – OhmyNews International". English.ohmynews.com. 6 October 2006. Archived from the original on 16 March 2010. Retrieved 27 April 2010.
  18. Asian News. "Calls for reviews of cousin marriages". Asian News. Trinity Mirror. Retrieved 26 December 2010.
  19. Groups try to break bonds of forced marriage, USA Today, 19 April 2006
  20. Woman saved from forced marriage in Pakistan by new UK law, The Daily Telegraph, 11 February 2009
  21. Bloom, Adi (9 April 2010). "Cry freedom". Times Educational Supplement. Archived from the original on 2 February 2014. Retrieved 30 June 2016.
  22. "Kashmiri Research Project" (PDF). Office for National Statistics. October 2009. Retrieved 6 March 2015.
  23. DEd website
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