| Total population | |
|---|---|
| Approximately 60–80 per cent of theBritish Pakistani population (estimate forEngland only) | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| Birmingham,Bradford,London,Manchester,Luton,Leeds,Blackburn and surrounding towns | |
| Languages | |
| Urdu, Mirpuri,Pahari-Pothwari,English (British) | |
| Religion | |
| Islam |
TheBritish Mirpuri (Urdu:برطانوی میرپوری) community comprises people in theUnited Kingdom who originate from theMirpur District and surrounding areas inPakistan-administeredAzad Jammu and Kashmir, thus being a part of theMirpuri diaspora. While no accurate statistics are available, an estimated 60 to 80 per cent ofBritish Pakistanis inEngland trace their origins to the administrative territory ofAzad Kashmir in northeastern Pakistan, mainly fromDadyal,Mirpur,Kotli,Muzaffarabad andBhimber districts.[1][2][3]
Mirpuris started settling in Britain in the 1940s, transferring their workmanship onBritish merchant navy ships to the industrial needs of the growing British economy. The migration accelerated after construction of theMangla Dam began in 1961, submerging vast areas of farmland in the Mirpur district.[4]
Large Azad Kashmiri communities can be found inBirmingham,Bradford,London,Manchester,Leeds,Luton and the surrounding towns.[5][2]
Migration from theprincely state of Jammu and Kashmir began soon after theSecond World War as the majority of the male population of this area and thePotohar region worked in the British armed forces, as well as to fill labour shortages in industry. But the mass migration phenomenon accelerated in the 1960s, when, to improve the supply of water, theMangla Dam project was built in the area, flooding the surrounding farmlands.[6] Up to 5,000 people from Mirpur (5% of the displaced) resettled in Britain. More joined their relatives in Britain after benefiting from government compensation and liberal migration policies.[7]
Mirpur was considered to be a conservative district in 1960s, and life in its rural villages was dominated by rigidhierarchies. The first generation Mirpuris were not highly educated, and they had little or no experience of urban living in Pakistan.[8] An economic boom brought dramatic changes to the area after its residents began migrating to Europe, especially the UK, bolsteringremittances to Pakistan. Families in Pakistan are close knit and the guiding influence behind everything from marriage to business.[9] The current literacy rate ofAzad Jammu and Kashmir is 78%, compared with 62.3% inPakistan.[10] InAzad Jammu and Kashmir, primary school enrolment is 80% for boys and 74% for girls.[11]
The community has made notable progress in UK politics and a sizeable number of MPs,councillors, lord mayors and deputy mayors are representing the community in different constituencies.[12]
Cousin marriages or marriages within the same tribe andcaste system are common in some parts of South Asia, including rural areas of Pakistan.[13] A major motivation is to preservepatrilineal tribal identity.[14] As a result, there are some commongenealogical origins within these tribes.[15] Some British Pakistanis view cousin marriages as a way of preserving this ancient tribal tradition and maintaining a sense of brotherhood.[16]
A small scale study of 100 randomly selectedBritish Pakistani mothers was published in 1988 in theJournal of Medical Genetics, which looked specifically at two hospitals inWest Yorkshire, found that the rate ofconsanguineous marriage was 55 per cent and suggested that the rate was rising,[17] compared to a worldwide rate of 29 per cent.[18] However, this rate is significantly lower than inPakistan, whereconsanguineous marriages are estimated to be at 73 per cent.[19]
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.[20]
According to the BritishHome Office, as of 2000, more than half the cases offorced marriage investigated involve families of Pakistani origin, followed by Bangladeshis and Indians.[21] 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.[22] 60 per cent of forced marriages by Pakistani families were linked to the small towns ofBhimber andKotli and the city ofMirpur.[23]
Christopher Snedden writes that most of the native residents of Azad Kashmir are not ofKashmiri ethnicity; rather, they could be called "Jammuites" due to their historical and cultural links with that region, which is coterminous with neighbouringPunjab andHazara.[24][25] Because their region was formerly a part of theprincely state of Jammu and Kashmir and is named after it, many Azad Kashmiris have adopted the "Kashmiri" identity, whereas in an ethnolinguistic context, the term "Kashmiri" would ordinarily refer to natives of theKashmir Valley region.[26] The population of Azad Kashmir has strong historical, cultural and linguistic affinities with the neighbouring populations of upperPunjab andPotohar region of Pakistan.[27][28]
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 theethnic group question in the2011 census.[29]
The following ethnic codes are used in UK school ethnicity profiles:[30]
Individual migration from what later became AJK started already before the Subcontinent's partition and independence. From the 1950s, chain migration developed, transferring large portions of the population of southern AJK (today's districts of Mirpur, Kotli and Bhimber), resulting in quite concentrated settlements of Kashmiris in Britain, especially in Birmingham, Bradford, different towns in Lancashire and around London.
Kashmiris from Azad Kashmir (the Mirpur and Kotli districts) relocated to Britain in the 1950s, especially to the towns of Bradford, Birmingham, London, Manchester, Leeds, and Luton, on account of the availability of unskilled work.
... Kalesh kinship is indeed orchestrated through a rigorous system of patrilineal descent defined by lineage endogamy
{{cite web}}:|author= has generic name (help)Confusingly, the term 'Kashmiri' also has wider connotations and uses. Some people in Azad Kashmir call themselves 'Kashmiris' This is despite most Azad Kashmiris not being of Kashmiri ethnicity. Indeed, most of their ethnic, cultural and historical links have been, and remain, with areas to the south and west of Azad Kashmir, chiefly Punjab and the North-West Frontier Province (NWFP), now called Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province. Nevertheless, Azad Kashmiris call themselves Kashmiris because of their region's historical connections with the former princely state of J&K that popularly was called Kashmir. Some Azad Kashmiris also call themselves Kashmiris simply because their region's official name, Azad Jammu and Kashmir, has the word Kashmir in it. (Using the same logic, Azad Kashmiris could call themselves "'Jammuites', which historically and culturally would be more accurate, or even 'Azadi- ites'.)
Kashmiri population in the northeast of Pakistan has strong historical, cultural and linguistic affinities with the neighbouring populations of upper Punjab and Potohar region of Pakistan.
... they are best seen as forming the eastern and northern limits of the Potohari Punjabi culture which is otherwise characteristic of the upland parts of Rawalpindi and Jhelum Districts