british pakistanis

British Pakistanis ( ur, (Bratānia men maqīm pākstānī); also known as Pakistani British people or Pakistani Britons) are citizens or residents of the United Kingdom whose ancestral roots lie in Pakistan. This includes people born in the UK who are of Pakistani descent, Pakistani-born people who have migrated to the UK and those of Pakistani origin from overseas who migrated to the UK.

The UK is home to the largest Pakistani community in Europe, with the population of British Pakistanis exceeding 1.17 million based on the 2011 census. British Pakistanis are the second-largest ethnic minority population in the United Kingdom and also make up the second-largest sub-group of British Asians. In addition, they are one of the largest overseas Pakistani communities, similar in number to the Pakistani diaspora in Saudi Arabia. The majority of British Pakistanis originate from the Azad Kashmir and Punjab regions, with a smaller number from other parts of Pakistan including Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan.

Due to the historical relations between the two countries, immigration to the UK from the region, which is now Pakistan, began in small numbers in the mid-nineteenth century when parts of what is now Pakistan came under the British Raj. People from those regions served as soldiers in the British Indian Army and some were deployed to other parts of the British Empire. However, it was following the Second World War and the break-up of the British Empire and the independence of Pakistan that Pakistani immigration to the United Kingdom increased, especially during the 1950s and 1960s. This was made easier as Pakistan was a member of the Commonwealth. Pakistani immigrants helped to solve labour shortages in the British steel, textile and engineering industries. The National Health Service recruited doctors from Pakistan in the 1960s.

The British Pakistani population has grown from about 10,000 in 1951 to over 1.1 million in 2011. The vast majority of them live in England, with a sizable number in Scotland and smaller numbers in Wales and Northern Ireland. The majority of British Pakistanis are Muslim; around 90% of those living in England and Wales at the time of the 2011 UK Census stated their religion was Islam. The majority are Sunni Muslims, with a significant minority of Shia Muslims. The UK also has one of the largest overseas Christian Pakistani communities; the 2011 census recorded around 17,000 Christian Pakistanis living in England and Wales, 1.52 percent of the Pakistani population of England and Wales.

Since their settlement, British Pakistanis have had diverse contributions and influences on British society, politics, culture, economy, and sport. Whilst social issues include high relative poverty rates among the community according to the 2001 census, significant progress has been made in recent years, with the 2011 Census showing British Pakistanis as having amongst the highest levels of homeownership in Britain.

According to the 2021 Census, Pakistanis in England & Wales enumerated 1,587,819, or 2.7% of the population.

History

Pre-Independence

The earliest period of Asian migration to Britain has not been ascertained. It is known that Romani (Gypsy) groups such as the Romanichal and Kale arrived in the region during the Middle Ages, having originated from what is now North India and Pakistan and traveled westward to Europe via Southwest Asia around 1000 CE, intermingling with local populations over several centuries.

Immigration from what is now Pakistan to the United Kingdom began long before Pakistan's independence in 1947. Muslim immigrants from Kashmir, Punjab, Sindh, the North-West Frontier and Balochistan and other parts of South Asia, arrived in the British Isles as early as the mid-seventeenth century as employees of the East India Company, typically as '' lashkars'' and sailors in British port cities. These immigrants were often the first Asians to be seen in British port cities and were initially perceived as indolent due to their reliance on Christian charities. Despite this, most early Pakistani immigrants married local white British women because there were few South Asian women in Britain.

During the colonial era, Asians continued coming to Britain as seamen, traders, students, domestic workers, cricketers, political officials and visitors, and some of them settled in the region. South Asian seamen sometimes settled after ill- treatment or being abandoned by ship masters.

Many early Pakistanis came to the UK as scholars and studied at major British institutions, before later returning to British India. An example of such a person is Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan. Jinnah came to the UK in 1892 and began an apprenticeship at Graham's Shipping and Trading Company. After completing his apprenticeship, Jinnah joined Lincoln's Inn, where he trained as a barrister. At 19, he became the youngest person from South Asia to be called to the bar in Britain.

British interwar period

Most early Pakistani settlers (then part of the British India Empire) and their families moved from port towns to the Midlands, as Britain declared war on Germany in 1939, many expatriates mainly hailing from the city of Mirpur worked in munitions factories in Birmingham. After the war, most of these early settlers stayed on in the region and took advantage of an increase in the number of jobs. These settlers were later joined by their families.

In 1932, the Indian National Congress survey of 'all Indians outside India' (of which Pakistani regions were then a part) estimated that there were 7,128 Indians in the United Kingdom.

There were 832,500 Muslim Indian soldiers in 1945; most of these recruits were from what is now Pakistan. These soldiers fought alongside the British Army during the First and Second World Wars, particularly in the latter, during the Battle of France, the North African Campaign and the Burma Campaign. Many contributed to the war effort as skilled labourers, including as assembly-line workers in the aircraft factory at Castle Bromwich, Birmingham, which produced Spitfire fighter aircraft. Most returned to South Asia after their service, although many of these former soldiers returned to Britain in the 1950s and 1960s to fill labour shortages.

Post-Independence

Following the Second World War, the break-up of the British Empire and the independence of Pakistan, Pakistani immigration to the United Kingdom increased, especially during the 1950s and 1960s. Many Pakistanis came to the UK following the turmoil during the partition of India and Pakistani independence. Among them were those who migrated to Pakistan upon displacement from India, and then migrated to the UK; thus becoming secondary migrants. Migration was made easier as Pakistan was a member of the Commonwealth of Nations. Employers invited Pakistanis to fill labour shortages which arose in Britain after the Second World War.

As Commonwealth citizens, they were eligible for most British civic rights. They found employment in the textile industries of Lancashire and Yorkshire, manufacturing in the West Midlands and the car production and food processing industries of Luton and Slough. It was common for Pakistani employees to work on night shifts and other less desirable hours.

Many expatriates began emigrating from Pakistan after the completion of the Mangla Dam in Mirpur, Azad Kashmir, in the late-1950s led to the destruction of hundreds of villages. Up to 5,000 people from Mirpur (5% of the displaced) left for Britain, while others were allotted land in neighbouring Punjab or used monetary compensation to resettle elsewhere in Pakistan. The British contractor which had built the dam gave the displaced community legal and financial assistance. Those from unaffected areas of Pakistan, such as the Punjab, also emigrated to the UK to help fill labour shortages. Pakistanis began leaving Pakistan in the 1960s. They worked in the foundries of the English Midlands, and a significant number also settled in Southall, West London.

During the 1960s, a considerable number of Pakistanis also arrived from urban areas. Many of them were qualified teachers, doctors, and engineers. They had a predisposition to settle in London because of its greater employment opportunities compared to the Midlands or the North of England. Most medical staff from Pakistan were recruited in the 1960s and almost all worked for the National Health Service. At the same time, the number of Pakistanis coming over as workers declined.

In addition, there was a stream of migrants from East Pakistan (now Bangladesh). During the 1970s, many East African Asians, most of whom already held British passports because they were brought to Africa by British colonialists, entered the UK from Kenya and Uganda. Idi Amin expelled all Ugandan Asians in 1972 because of his Black supremacist views and the perception that they were responsible for the country's economic stagnation. The Commonwealth Immigrants Act 1962 and Immigration Act 1971 largely restricted any further primary immigration to the UK, although family members of already-settled immigrants were allowed to join their relatives.

The early Pakistani workers who entered the UK came intending to work temporarily and eventually returning home. However, this changed into permanent family immigration after the 1962 Act, as well as socio-economic circumstances and the future of their children, which most families saw lay in Britain.

When the UK experienced deindustrialisation in the 1970s, many British Pakistanis became unemployed. The change from the manufacturing sector to the service sector was difficult for ethnic minorities and working-class White Britons alike; especially for those with little academic education. The Midlands and North of England were areas which were heavily reliant on manufacturing industries and the effects of deindustrialisation continue to be felt in these areas. As a result, increasing numbers of British Pakistanis have resorted to self-employment. National statistics from 2004 show that one in seven British Pakistani men work as taxi drivers or chauffeurs.

Demographics

Population

According to the 2021 Census, Pakistanis in England & Wales enumerated 1,587,819, or 2.7% of the population.

In the 2011 UK Census, 1,174,983 residents classified themselves as ethnically Pakistani (excluding people of mixed ethnicity), regardless of their birthplace; 1,112,212 of them lived in England. This represented an increase of 427,000 over the 747,285 residents recorded in the 2001 UK Census.

Of those Pakistanis living in England, Wales and Scotland in 2011, 56% were born in the UK, 40% in Pakistan and 4% elsewhere. According to estimates by the Office for National Statistics, the number of people born in Pakistan living in the UK in 2021 was 456,000, which makes it the third most common country of birth in the UK.

The Pakistan government's Ministry of Overseas Pakistanis estimates that 1.26 million Pakistanis eligible for dual nationality live in the UK, constituting well over half of the total number of Pakistanis in Europe.

The majority of British Pakistanis are from the Azad Kashmir and Punjab areas of Pakistan, with Azad Kashmiris making up the largest and Punjabis making up the second largest portion. A high proportion of the members of Pakistani communities in the West Midlands and the North originated in Azad Kashmir.

Large communities from Azad Kashmir can be found in Birmingham, Bradford, Oldham and the surrounding northern towns. Luton and Slough have the largest Azad Kashmiri communities in the south of England, while a large proportion of Punjabis also reside in the south. There is also a small Pakistani Pashtun population in the UK.

Up to 250,000 Pakistanis come to the UK each year, for work, to visit or other purposes. Likewise, up to 270,000 British citizens travel to Pakistan each year, mainly to visit family. Excluding British citizens of Pakistani descent, the number of individuals living in the UK with a Pakistani passport was estimated at 188,000 in 2017, making Pakistan the eighth most common non-British nationality in the UK.

Pakistan International Airlines flies to several UK airports, while British Airways resumed its flights to Pakistan in 2019.

Demographer Ceri Peach has estimated the number of British Pakistanis in the 1951 to 1991 censuses. He back-projected the ethnic composition of the 2001 census to the estimated minority populations during previous census years. The results are as follows:

Population distribution

At the time of the 2011 UK Census, the distribution of people describing their ethnicity as Pakistani was as follows:

London

Greater London has the largest Pakistani community in the United Kingdom. The 2011 census recorded 224,000 British Pakistanis living in London. However, it only forms 2.7% of London's population, which is significantly lower than other British cities, despite their lower overall Pakistani population. The most diverse Pakistani population is in London, with comparable numbers of Punjabis, Pashtuns and Kashmiris, and smaller communities of Sindhis and Balochs. This mix makes the British Pakistani community of London more diverse than other UK communities, whereas a high proportion of Pakistani communities in the West Midlands and the North came from Azad Kashmir.

The largest concentrations are in East London, with the largest communities found in Ilford, Leyton, Walthamstow, Newham and Barking. Significant communities can also be found in the boroughs of Brent, Ealing and Hounslow in West London and Wandsworth and Croydon 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 those who arrived later commonly work as taxi drivers or chauffeurs.

Well-known British Pakistanis from London include Sadiq Khan, the mayor of London; 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.

Birmingham

Birmingham has the second largest Pakistani community in the United Kingdom. The 2011 census recorded that there were 144,627 Pakistanis living in Birmingham, making up 13.5% of the city's total population.

The majority of "Brummie" Pakistanis can trace their roots to Azad Kashmir, with large minorities from Punjab and more recently, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.

Bradford

The 2011 Census recorded 106,614 Pakistanis in Bradford, 20.4% of the total population.

The majority of British Pakistanis in Bradford can trace their roots to the Mirpur District of Azad Kashmir.

Glasgow

Pakistanis make up the largest 'visible' ethnic minority in Scotland, representing nearly one-third of the non-White ethnic minority population. The 2011 census recorded 22,405 Pakistanis in Glasgow, 3.78% of the city's total population.

There are large Pakistani communities throughout the city, notably in the Pollokshields area of South Glasgow, where there are said to be some 'high standard' Pakistani takeaways and Asian fabric shops. The majority came from the Central Punjab part of Pakistan, including Faisalabad and Lahore.

A survey by the University of Glasgow found Scottish Pakistanis felt more Scottish than English people living there, and that their preferred political party was the Scottish National Party. Humza Yousaf, of the Scottish National Party, who has served as the Minister for Transport and the Islands in the devolved Scottish Government since 18 May 2016, is of Pakistani descent.

Manchester

Pakistanis are the largest ethnic minority in Manchester, where they made up 3.8% of the inner city's population in 2001. Large Pakistani populations are also to be found in the Greater Manchester boroughs of Oldham and Rochdale, where they constituted 4.1 and 5.5% of the population, respectively.

In 2011, the ethnic Pakistani population of the City of Manchester had risen to 42,904, or 8.5% of the city's total population. In the wider area of Greater Manchester, there were 130,012 people of Pakistani ethnicity, or 4.8% of the population. With greater prosperity, a recent trend has seen some of Manchester's Asian community move out of the inner city into more spacious suburbs, though British Pakistanis in Oldham and Rochdale remain less transient due to lower economic opportunities in these towns.

A significant number of Manchester-based Pakistani business families have moved down the A34 road to live in the affluent Heald Green area. Academics have associated the suburban movement of Pakistani-origin Muslims in Manchester with the formation of "gilded ghettoes" in the sought-after commuter suburbs of Cheshire.

In 2018, Manchester was the venue for a fundraising telethon held to help crowdfund a major dam project in Pakistan.

Nottingham

The 2011 census recorded 16,771 British Pakistanis in Nottingham which formed 5.5% of the city's population. Within Bobbersmill and Forest Fields areas, Pakistanis comprise 17.4% of the total population.

Leeds

The 2011 census recorded 22,492 Pakistanis, 3% of the Leeds population. With time an increasing number of Leeds/Bradford Kashmirs have been moving to North Yorkshire, this is evident through more car use and in the opening of such places as York Mosque during the 1980's and Harrogate Islamic Centre, in a rich Spa town with high house prices, purchased for renovation in 2022.

Religion

Over 90% of Pakistanis in the UK are Muslims. The largest proportion of these belong to the Sunni branch of Islam, mainly Deobandi (of the Tablighi Jamaat) and Sunni Barelvi, with a significant minority belonging to the Shia branch. Other notable sects include Ahmadiyya, whose spiritual leader, Mirza Masroor Ahmad, is based in London, and Sufism. Mosques, community centres and religious youth organisations play an integral part in British Pakistani social life.

Pakistanis account for 38% of all Muslims in England and Wales. This figure varies from a high of 71% of all Muslims in Yorkshire and The Humber to a low of 21.5% in Greater London. In England and Wales, there are also around 17,000 Pakistani Christians, and slightly fewer Hindus, Sikhs, Zoroastrians (mainly Parsis) and others. Approximately 12,500 British Pakistanis declared that they have no religion or are Atheist.

The overall religious breakdown of British Pakistanis living in England and Wales in 2011 was:

Languages

Most British Pakistanis speak English, and those who were born in the UK consider British English to be their first language. First-generation and recent immigrants speak Pakistani English. Urdu, the national language of Pakistan, is understood and spoken by many British Pakistanis at a native level, and is the fourth-most commonly spoken language in the UK. Some secondary schools and colleges teach Urdu for GCSEs and A Levels. Madrassas also offer it along with Arabic. According to Sajid Mansoor Qaisrani, Urdu language periodicals of the 1990s published in UK used to focus exclusively on South Asian issues, with no relevance to British society. Coverage of local British issues and problems of local Pakistanis in the UK used to be sparse. Beyond Pakistani youth's interest in identifying with their ethnicity and religious identity, Urdu was of little use to them in finding suitable employment opportunities.

As the majority of Pakistanis in Britain are from Azad Kashmir and Punjab, some common languages spoken amongst Pakistanis in Britain are Punjabi, Potohari and Hindko, which are closely related Punjabi dialects. Other Punjabi dialects are spoken in Britain, making Punjabi the third-most commonly spoken language.

Other significant Pakistani languages spoken include Pashto, Saraiki, Sindhi, Balochi and a minority of others. These languages are not only spoken by British Pakistanis, but by other groups such as British Indians, British Afghans or British Iranians.

Diaspora

Many British Pakistanis have emigrated from the UK, establishing a diaspora of their own. There are around 80,000 Britons in Pakistan, a substantial number of whom are British Pakistanis who have resettled in Pakistan. The town of Mirpur in Azad Kashmir, where the majority of British Pakistanis hail from, has a large expatriate population of resettled British Pakistanis and is dubbed "Little England".

Other British Pakistanis have migrated elsewhere to Europe, North America, the Middle East, Asia and Australia. Dubai, in the UAE, remains a popular destination for British Pakistani expatriates to live although there is no minimum wage and few anti-racism groups.

Pakistanis in Hong Kong were given full British citizenship in 1997 during the handover of Hong Kong, when it ceased being a British colony to prevent them being made stateless. Previously, as Hong Kong residents, they held the status of British Overseas Territories citizens.

Culture

Pakistan's Independence Day is celebrated on 14 August in large Pakistani-populated areas of various cities, including Green Street in Newham, London, and the Curry mile in Manchester. Pakistani Muslims also observe the month of Ramadan and mark the Islamic festivals of Eid al-Adha and Eid al-Fitr.

The annual Birmingham Eid Mela attracts more than 20,000 British Pakistanis who celebrate the festival. The Eid Mela also welcomes Muslims of other ethnic backgrounds. International and UK Asian musicians help to celebrate the nationwide Muslim community through its culture, music, food and sport.

Green Street in East London hosts Europe's "first Asian shopping mall". A number of high-end Pakistani fashion and other retail brands have opened stores in the UK.

Cuisine

Pakistani and South Asian cuisines are highly popular in Britain and have nurtured a largely successful food industry. The cuisine of Pakistan is strongly related to North Indian cuisine, coupled with an exotic blend of Central Asian and Middle Eastern flavours.

The popular Balti dish has its roots in Birmingham, where it was believed to have been created by a Pakistani immigrant of Balti origin in 1977. The dish is thought to have borrowed native tastes from the northeastern Pakistani region of Baltistan. In 2009, the Birmingham City Council attempted to trademark the Balti dish to give the curry Protected Geographical Status alongside items such as luxury cheese and champagne. The area of Birmingham where the Balti dish was first served is known locally as the "Balti Triangle" or "Balti Belt".

Chicken tikka masala has long been amongst the nation's favourite dishes and is claimed to have been invented by a Pakistani chef in Glasgow, though its origins remain disputed. There has been support for a campaign in Glasgow to obtain European Union Protected Designation of origin status for it.

Pakistanis are well represented in the British food industry. Many self-employed British Pakistanis own takeaways and restaurants. "Indian restaurants" in the North of England are almost entirely Pakistani owned. According to the Food Standards Agency, the South Asian food industry in the UK is worth £3.2 billion, accounting for two-thirds of all eating out, and serving about 2.5 million British customers every week. Curry sauces are sold in British supermarkets by British Pakistani entrepreneurs like Manchester-born Nighat Awan. Awan's Asian food business, Shere Khan, has made her one of the richest women in Britain.

Successful fast-food chains founded by British Pakistanis include Chicken Cottage and Dixy Chicken.

Sports

The expansion of the British Empire led to cricket being played overseas. Cricket is a core part of Pakistani sporting culture and is often played by British Pakistanis for leisure and recreation. Aftab Habib, Usman Afzaal, Kabir Ali, Owais Shah, Sajid Mahmood, Adil Rashid, Amjad Khan, Ajmal Shahzad, Moeen Ali, Zafar Ansari and Saqib Mahmood have played cricket for England. Similarly, Asim Butt, Omer Hussain, Majid Haq, Qasim Sheikh and Moneeb Iqbal have represented Scotland. Prior to playing for England, Amjad Khan represented Denmark, the country of his birth. Imad Wasim became the first Welsh-born cricketer to represent Pakistan. Former Pakistani cricketer Azhar Mahmood moved his career to England and became a naturalised British citizen. There are several other British Pakistanis, as well as cricketers from Pakistan, who play English county cricket. Many young British Pakistanis find it difficult to make their way to the highest level of playing for England, despite much talent around the country. Many concerns about this have been documented although the number of British Pakistanis making progress in representing England is on the rise.

The Pakistan national cricket team enjoys a substantial following among British Pakistanis, with the level of support translating to the equivalent of a home advantage whenever the team tours the UK. The "Stani Army" is a group consisting of British Pakistanis who follow the team, especially when they play in the UK. The Stani Army is seen as the "rival" fan club to India's "Bharat Army". England and Pakistan share a long cricketing relationship, often characterised by rivalries.

Football is also widely followed and played by many young British Pakistanis (see British Asians in association football). Many players on the Pakistan national football team are British-born Pakistanis who became eligible to represent the country because of their Pakistani heritage. Zesh Rehman is a football defender who played briefly for Fulham F.C., becoming the first British Asian to play in the Premier League, before also playing for the English national U-18, U-19 and U-20 football teams until eventually opting for Pakistan. Other notable British Pakistani footballers include Adnan Ahmed, Amjad Iqbal, Atif Bashir, Iltaf Ahmed, Kashif Siddiqi, Reis Ashraf, Shabir Khan and Usman Gondal. Hockey and polo are commonly played in Pakistan, with the former being a national sport, but these sports are not as popular among British Pakistanis, possibly because of the urban lifestyles which the majority of them embrace. Imran Sherwani was a hockey player of Pakistani descent who played for the English and Great Britain national field hockey teams.

Adam Khan is a race car driver from Bridlington, Yorkshire. He represents Pakistan in the A1 Grand Prix series. Khan is currently the demonstration driver for the Renault F1 racing team. Ikram Butt was the first South Asian to play international rugby for England in 1995. He is the founder of the British Asian Rugby Association and the British Pakistani rugby league team, and has also captained Pakistan. Amir Khan is the most famous British Pakistani boxer. He is the current WBA World light welterweight champion and 2004 Summer Olympics silver medalist. Matthew Syed was a table tennis international, and the English number one for many years. Lianna Swan

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