British Kashmiris Identity, Politics and
Inclusion, Shams Rehman
Publicity Secretary Kashmir
National Identity Campaign (KNIC)
On 3rd March
2014, Simon Danczuk , MP for Rochdale asked the for the inclusion of Kashmiri
category in national census and other data collection systems to be able to
address the issues and challenges facing Kashmiri community in Britain
including deprivation, under representation, discrimination and
injustices.
While no significance was
given to this adjournment debate in British Media or in any other Asian media,
GEO News, a Pakistani channel reported the demand for Kashmiri inclusion as a ‘shosha’.
Literally shosha means circumflex but actually connoting in public
narrative, especially in Urdu, Punjabi and Pahari-Pothohari languages and
communities as something inferior and farcical. The accompanying report by the
GEO reporter included two interviews both asking for Kashmir’s accession to
Pakistan. The Jang Newspaper that also has some lower level reporters of (azad) Kashmiri background carried out surveys
and claimed that majority of Kashmiris want Kashmir to become part of Pakistan
rather than independent. One Kashmiri from Luton was reported as claiming that
in a recent election in Azad Kashmir one pro-independence Kashmiri party got
only few dozen votes and pro-Pakistani parties got the most votes therefore it
is evident that Kashmiris want to join Pakistan. Then there were statements by
other Kashmiris who claimed that Pakistanis have suppressed Kashmiris in
Pakistani occupied Kashmiri and majority will vote for independence in any free
and fair referendum. Only Wahid Akbar, a former councillor and mayor of Luton
stated that recognition of Kashmiris in Britain will enable relevant
departments and services to have more reliable data about Kashmiris and will be
beneficial for Kashmiris. His views were included at the end of the report as a
lone voice.
What is this demand for
recognition of Kashmiris in Britain? Why Kashmiri? Don’t they have Pakistani
passports? Did not they come to Britain as compensation to them by Pakistan
government for building of Mangla Dam?
Is this not a ploy to divide Muslims in Britain? After all we all are
Muslims and must not indulge into ethnicities and divisive identities. So be a British
Muslim.
These are some of the
questions and instructions I have received from different people at different
times during the campaign for Kashmiri recognition in Britain. For me this
campaign was started within few months of arriving to Britain in 1988. The
venue was Oldham Racial Equality Council where I was invited to a community
meeting only to make the meeting quorate. First item on the agenda was the name of the
community centre which was proposed as ‘Pakistani Community Centre’. I objected
that majority of those in the meeting were from ‘Azad’ Kashmir hence Kashmiris
so centre should be called Kashmiri Community Centre. Of course I did not
understand the community and voluntary sectors resource allocation mechanism
and the ethnic monitoring system.
Leaving the story of my personal
journey aside, I went on to find out more about Racial Equality and Equal
Opportunities. Presented below is the background and context in which the
campaign for Kashmiri recognition was initiated. As you can see the demand for
inclusion of Kashmiris has been raised in the context of ‘celebrating diversity
promoting cohesion’ which means that if differences of people on the basis of
which they are discriminated against are recognised and appropriate information
and support is provided to individuals and communities who are lagging behind
then they can be empowered to play a more active, healthy and positive role in
the wider society. In this context let’s have a quick look at how the ‘identity
landscape’ of Britain gradually became diverse and colourful.
Identification and labelling
of immigrants has been through several changes and transformations. Initially
they were simply immigrants or migrants. Then they became ‘coloured’ or blacks
before asserting Afro-Caribbean, Asian and Muslim umbrella identities to
distinguish distinct histories and needs. Constant campaigns by the non-white
and excluded white i.e. Irish minorities brought about the laws against racism
and discrimination on the grounds of race and ethnicity long before the
inclusion of ethnic question in the national census in 1991. Here different
groups of Afro-Caribbean background were recognised under the Black umbrella
identity and different groups from South Asia under the umbrella identity of
Asian. In the Asian category the choice included to tick Indian, Pakistani,
Bangladeshi as defined groups and ‘Any other Asian’ for those who did not fall
in these categories.
According to the Office of
National Statistics:
The
census provides information on housing and population that government needs to
develop policies, and to plan and run public services such as health and
education. The data are also widely used by academics, businesses, voluntary
organisations and the public. At the moment, the census is the only method of
providing this information.
With the inclusion of
‘ethnic questions’ data about the conditions and achievements of different
ethnic minorities also became available. It is this data that is used for buds
for resources and services for different communities in different geographic
and service areas.
This whole process if
studied closely would show that after the initial radical politics against
racism and equality in the streets, the identity politics was taken inside the
corridors of policy making and development planning at local and national
levels of governance by the newly emerging middle classes of ethnic minorities.
They became the policy advisors for the relevant departments on implementation
of equality agenda following the Racial Equality Laws and Racial Equality and
Equal Opportunities infrastructure.
MIGRATION AND LABELS
Most of the labour migration
from South Asia to Britain occurred mainly from Mirpur (Kashmir), Sylhet
(Bangladesh) Gujarat and Jalandhar (India) and Attock and Pothohar (Pakistan).
While I have no academic study at hand to consult, it is general observation
however, that the Asians who managed to gain access to policy and advisory
positions in the local and national government offices were predominantly from the urban middle
class background and not from the rural areas of South Asia which form the
majority within British South Asians. Since there is not only a serious lack of
interaction between rural and urban regions of South Asia due to acute class
disparities and cultural diversity is usually suppressed rather than celebrated
which is more so in Pakistan than India, these earlier ‘representatives’ of
South Asian communities within British structure made ‘representation’ with in
this South Asian context rather than practicing the diversity and equality
agenda of changing British society during 1970s and 80s. This ‘nationalist’ approach
caused suffering for majorities within British South Asians turning them into
invisible minorities.
While the equality agenda was
for the inclusion of excluded and marginalised minorities in the British
society, the inclusion of ethnic question in 1991 census within the context of
‘nation-state’ made it impossible for marginalised South Asians to gain access
to appropriate resources, services and opportunities required for their
empowerment and participation. Within these excluded and marginalised
communities, the community that suffered relatively more and still suffering is
the British Kashmiri community.
British Kashmiris are
currently estimated around one million. Apart from about three hundred families
of Kashmiris from the Valley of Kashmir in the Indian administered Kashmir, the
rest of British Kashmiris originate from the Pakistani administered Kashmir.
They speak Pahari language (also known as Mirpuri in Britain) and are over
represented in the inner city areas across Britain with over 100,000 in
Birmingham, about 70,000 in Bradford, 30,000 in Leeds, 20,000 in Luton and
largest or significant minority in dozens of other British towns including,
Manchester, Rochdale, Oldham, Halifax, Kirklees, Keighley, Burnley, Preston,
Blackburn, Bolton, Derby, Sheffield, Nottingham and several other towns.
KASHMIRI MIGRATION TO
BRITIAN
The traces of Kashmiri labour migration to
Britain go back to the mid-19th century when some workers left
Merchant Navy ships where they worked in the coal rooms with above 60
temperature and found work as vendors and peddlers in different coastal towns
of Britain. Through these early
connections many more came after the First and Second World Wars which they
fought in British colonial armies and lot more came to meet the post war labour
shortage in Britain. By the end of 1960s when the ancient city of Mirpur was
submerged in Mangla Dam Lake the Kashmiri migration to Britain was developed
into a ‘Chain Process’. 1970s was the decade of the arrival of families and
from 1980s onwards of the spouses and grandparents. Today fourth and fifth generations of
Kashmiris are growing up in Britain.
Despite being one of the
largest linguistic and cultural communities within South Asians, the specific
linguistic and cultural aspects of British Kashmiris remained least recognised
hence unaddressed. Especially in terms of language, Pahari (also described as
Mirpuri) was not recognised as one if the languages of interpreting till
recently. Information about the achievements and barriers in different
departments remain unavailable and Kashmiris are not included in the equality
impact assessment at different levels and spheres of the British society.
It was in this context that
some Kashmiris who after gaining access to white collar jobs and having some
understanding of the equality and diversity issues discussed this issue
initially in Kashmiri Workers Association (KWA) and later formed the Kashmir
National Identity Campaign (KNIC) in 1999. Representatives of different
Kashmiri political and community groups were invited along with some academics
and local government officers and politicians.
The campaign clearly spelled
out although lack of Kashmiri recognition in Britain is a direct result of
Kashmir being not an independent country otherwise Kashmiri category would have
been included without any campaign as Bangladeshi was done, the purpose of the
campaign remains recognition and inclusion of Kashmiris for enhancing their
status and capacity as community in Britain and not to make it an issue of the
self-determination in Kashmir. That
issue is being raised and projected by scores of Kashmiri organisation across
Britain and KNIC is not part of that political campaign. For KNIC Kashmiris who
support the ideas of Kashmir’s accession to India or Pakistan are as much
Kashmiris as those who strive for independent Kashmir.
However one Pakistani newspaper
ran counter campaign against the inclusion of Kashmiris in British system and
we learnt from reliable sources that staff of this Pakistani newspaper was told
not to publish advertisements of the KNIC regarding 2001 census on the grounds
that if Kashmiris get recognised in Britain, the Pakistanis will reduce to a
tiny minority. In our view it is this suppressive behaviour that spreads
negativity and incite some Pakistanis against the Kashmiri recognition.
While the national census
did not recognise Kashmiris fully in 2001 census the campaign has managed to
achieve recognition in nearly two dozen local authorities. However, the local
Kashmiris in these councils failed to use recognition for their benefits in
terms of equality, inclusion and representation. No research is available but
it is general understanding that Kashmiris who have managed to gain access to
higher positions in British political parties depend on Pakistani embassy and
consulates and always try to tow the Pakistani line on Kashmir and Kashmiris to
be accepted and respected.
What is the campaign for?
The latest adjournment
debate in House of Commons by Simon Danzczuk , MP for Rochdale has certainly
brought the issue of Kashmiri inclusion back on equality agenda in Britain.
However, once again a private Pakistani Channel associated with the same paper
which ran a campaign against the
recognition and inclusion of Kashmiris
has described the demand by Simon for inclusion of Kashmiris in national census
as ‘Shosha’. Field reporters of the channel and associated paper many of
whom are of Kashmiri origin are accused of distorting the demand only to please
their bosses. However, it is very likely that they genuinely have not
understood the purpose of this campaign and wrongly linked it with the issue of
Kashmiri self-determination.
This campaign is for rights
of Kashmiris in Britain as British citizens and has no direct link with the
determination of political future of Kashmir. It is about equality and
inclusion and not about self-determination. As per self-determination,
Kashmiris in and outside of Kashmiri can vote whichever option they like.
However, there is a complimentary link between the Identity Campaign and Self
Determination Campaign that if Kashmiris or recognised as Kashmiris in Britain
and counted in the ethnic monitoring data it will be easy for them to vote in the
future of Kashmir when and IF an opportunity was provided.
With regards to being
divisive for Muslim community two pints are important to be aware of. Firstly,
there is a separate question in the census form on religion where religions are
listed including Islam so there is no clash between ethnic and religious
identities. Secondly, there were two new categories were included in 2011, one was
Gypsy travellers and other was Arab.
In conclusion, the whole
purpose of Kashmiri recognition campaign is for British Kashmiris to get what
they are entitled to as British citizens like all other diaspora communities do
and is not against Indian or Pakistani communities. It is entirely up to those
British Kashmiris who are inside the British governance system to work closely
with parliamentarians, councillors, officers
as well as with the Indian and Pakistani community representatives to
gain greater recognition for Kashmiri community to enhance the equality and
inclusion of British Kashmiri community.
