Press Release - 20 August 2005

Pakistan 58th Independence Day

Pakistan was born on 14 August 1947, when Britain left the Indian subcontinent after many years of colonial rule. The following day India gained its independence. People of Pakistani and Indian descent are now celebrating this occasion throughout the country. Yet, while most Westerners are generally well aware of Mahatma Gandhi's role in securing independence from Britain, few know of the similar struggle led by Mohammed Ali Jinnah for a separate homeland for the country's sizable Muslim minority.

Jinnah was a remarkable, very westernised gentleman, in appearance and manners more English than the English. Born in Karachi in 1876 and educated at Oxford, he was a highly successful barrister with strong moral integrity and principles. Unfortunately, you cannot find biographies about him in bookshops here in the UK. He was not popular with the British because of his determination and passion in leading the campaign for a separate homeland for the Muslims of India. However, in his early days he had campaigned for independence alongside others and he decided to create a separate nation for those who shared his faith only when he realised that they would have a raw deal as a minority in the new country.

Jinnah is obviously very much revered in Pakistan for his role as its founder and is referred to as Quaid-e Azam (great leader). After independence, he was equally determined that the new country should be inclusive and welcomed people of all religions and backgrounds to live in harmony and peace alongside each other. Unfortunately, he was an ailing man in his 70s and died in 1948, not having had sufficient time to leave behind stable systems of governance.

Since his death Pakistan has seen many turbulent times as different factions have fought for control but it has still made remarkable progress since becoming independent, when its share of the subcontinent's resources was next to nothing. Had it not been for an ongoing dispute over Kashmir province, which was left unresolved during partition, Pakistan and India might now be among the most prosperous countries in the world. For more than half a century a large proportion of their resources was diverted away from vital areas of the economy like education, health and infrastructure development to defence and security. The result is that progress has been slow in both countries.

It is a great relief and joy to lay people in both India and Pakistan that relations between the two nations - which have so much in common - are at last improving. Many say that the impetus for change was fuelled by the explosion of the media, which enabled people to compare their progress with the rest of the world. They questioned why they were being left behind and found an explanation in the dispute. Let us pray that both countries resolve their differences peacefully and set ambitious targets to improve the educational, social and economic position of their peoples. The populations of both nations are hard-working and resilient with a determination to succeed.

People from Pakistan began migrating to Britain in the 1950s and 1960s for economic reasons. Their labour was needed desperately after the Second World War to maximise the output from textile mills in northern towns and cities and heavy industry in the Midlands. Although you will find British Pakistanis all over the UK (including the Outer Hebrides), most are evenly dispersed in London and the West Midlands, North West and Yorkshire regions. Because of the young age structure of the population, it will have overtaken Indians as the largest non-white ethnic group by 2020. There will then be over one million people of Pakistani descent in the UK. More than a quarter of the growth in the working age population will be from this community.

It is a sad fact that British Pakistanis have been marginalised for the past 30 years. They were adversely affected by the restructuring of the economy from manufacturing to service in the 1980s and the communities have still not been able to recover from the resulting mass redundancies that took place during this decade.

They have not benefited from generic interventions to tackle poverty and deprivation of so-called 'BME' groups and I am pleased that the use of this term to describe all non-whites is increasingly been questioned. The educational achievements and employment levels of British Pakistanis are amongst the lowest in the country and their presence in senior jobs in the public, private and mainstream non-statutory sectors of the economy is almost invisible. It must be noted that the relative progress of the community has been good, as over 90 per cent of the immigrants came from very rural backgrounds and did not see the value of education. However, a lot more needs to done!

After the July bombing, Muslim groups in Britain have been carrying out a rigorous self-examination. The British Pakistani community has particularly come under the spotlight and was genuinely shocked to discover that three of the four bombers came from the same background. Although people are still searching for the underlying causes, I feel we must focus on addressing the abject socio-economic circumstances of this group, where the number of households earning more than half the national average is three times below that of the population as a whole.

Pakistanis are made to feel ashamed of their national identities by the way that the media portrays their homeland as a violent country that is home to terrorists and hot-headed fanatics. It is hardly surprising that on a recent radio programme many young people said that they would rather describe themselves as British Asian or British Muslims, unlike others who were proud to describe themselves as British Indians. It is not healthy for a community to have such negative perceptions about its origins but how has this situation arisen? Is it because India is perceived to be safe, stable, democratic and an emerging economic power, while Pakistan is seen as dangerous, violent and full of fanatics?

We need to address this huge gap between perception and reality. Pakistan is a wonderful country, rich in natural resources and with a very hospitable people, and it is home to two of the world greatest and oldest civilisations - the Indus and the Kandahar. People of Pakistani origin should play a full role in British mainstream public life while feeling proud of their ancestors' homeland.

For further information, please contact Dr Mohammed Ali OBE on (01274) 483267 or (0781) 2010918.