British Pakistanis ( ur, (Bratānia men maqīm pākstānī); also known as Pakistani British people or Pakistani Britons) are citizens or residents of the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

whose ancestral roots lie in

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 243 million people, and has the world's second-lar ...

. 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 Asian British Asians (also referred to as Asian Britons) are British citizens of Asian descent. They constitute a significant and growing minority of the people living in the United Kingdom, with 6.9% of the population identifying as Asian/Asian Bri ...

s. In addition, they are one of the largest

overseas Pakistani Overseas Pakistanis ( ur, ), or the Pakistani diaspora, refers to Pakistani people who live outside of Pakistan. These include citizens that have migrated to another country as well as people born abroad of Pakistani descent. According to th ...

communities, similar in number to the Pakistani diaspora in

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the A ...

. The majority of British Pakistanis originate from the Azad Kashmir and

Punjab Punjab (; Punjabi: پنجاب ; ਪੰਜਾਬ ; ; also romanised as ''Panjāb'' or ''Panj-Āb'') is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising a ...

regions, with a smaller number from other parts of Pakistan including Sindh,

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (; ps, خېبر پښتونخوا; Urdu, Hindko: خیبر پختونخوا) commonly abbreviated as KP or KPK, is one of the Administrative units of Pakistan, four provinces of Pakistan. Located in the Geography of Pakistan, ...

and

Balochistan Balochistan ( ; bal, بلۏچستان; also romanised as Baluchistan and Baluchestan) is a historical region in Western and South Asia, located in the Iranian plateau's far southeast and bordering the Indian Plate and the Arabian Sea coastline. ...

. 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 The British Raj (; from Hindi ''rāj'': kingdom, realm, state, or empire) was the rule of the British Crown on the Indian subcontinent; * * it is also called Crown rule in India, * * * * or Direct rule in India, * Quote: "Mill, who was him ...

. People from those regions served as soldiers in the British Indian Army and some were deployed to other parts of the

British Empire The British Empire was composed of the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It began with the overseas possessions and trading posts e ...

. However, it was following the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

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 The National Health Service (NHS) is the umbrella term for the publicly funded healthcare systems of the United Kingdom (UK). Since 1948, they have been funded out of general taxation. There are three systems which are referred to using the " ...

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 England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, with a sizable number in

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

and smaller numbers in

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...

and

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

. The majority of British Pakistanis are Muslim; around 90% of those living in

England and Wales England and Wales () is one of the three legal jurisdictions of the United Kingdom. It covers the constituent countries England and Wales and was formed by the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542. The substantive law of the jurisdiction is Eng ...

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 Shīʿa Islam or Shīʿīsm is the second-largest branch of Islam. It holds that the Islamic prophet Muhammad designated ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib as his successor (''khalīfa'') and the Imam (spiritual and political leader) after him, mos ...

. 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 Romanichal Travellers ( ; more commonly known as English Gypsies or English Travellers) are a Romani subgroup within the United Kingdom and other parts of the English-speaking world. There are an estimated 200,000 Romani in the United Kingdom ...

and Kale arrived in the region during the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

, having originated from what is now

North India North India is a loosely defined region consisting of the northern part of India. The dominant geographical features of North India are the Indo-Gangetic Plain and the Himalayas, which demarcate the region from the Tibetan Plateau and Central ...

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 Independence is a condition of a person, nation, country, or state in which residents and population, or some portion thereof, exercise self-government, and usually sovereignty, over its territory. The opposite of independence is the statu ...

in 1947. Muslim immigrants from Kashmir,

, Sindh, the North-West Frontier and

and other parts of South Asia, arrived in the

British Isles The British Isles are a group of islands in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-western coast of continental Europe, consisting of the islands of Great Britain, Ireland, the Isle of Man, the Inner and Outer Hebrides, the Northern Isles, ...

as early as the mid-seventeenth century as employees of the

East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and South ...

, 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 White British is an ethnicity classification used for the native white population identifying as English, Scottish, Welsh, Cornish, Northern Irish, or British in the United Kingdom Census. In the 2011 census, the White British population ...

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 South Asia is the southern subregion of Asia, which is defined in both geographical Geography (from Greek: , ''geographia''. Combination of Greek words ‘Geo’ (The Earth) and ‘Graphien’ (to describe), literally "earth descr ...

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 Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1. ...

. 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 The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party but often simply the Congress, is a political party in India with widespread roots. Founded in 1885, it was the first modern nationalist movement to emerge in the British E ...

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 First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1). First or 1st may also refer to: *World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement Arts and media Music * 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and rec ...

and

Second World Wars World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, 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 Castle Bromwich () is a large suburban village situated within the Metropolitan Borough of Solihull in the English county of the West Midlands. It is bordered by the rest of the borough to the south east; also Sutton Coldfield to the east and ...

, Birmingham, which produced

Spitfire The Supermarine Spitfire is a British single-seat fighter aircraft used by the Royal Air Force and other Allied countries before, during, and after World War II. Many variants of the Spitfire were built, from the Mk 1 to the Rolls-Royce Grif ...

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

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 The Commonwealth of Nations, simply referred to as the Commonwealth, is a political association of 56 member states, the vast majority of which are former territories of the British Empire. The chief institutions of the organisation are the ...

. 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 Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancash ...

and

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other English counties, functions have ...

, manufacturing in the

West Midlands West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some ...

and the car production and food processing industries of

Luton Luton () is a town and unitary authority with borough status, in Bedfordshire, England. At the 2011 census, the Luton built-up area subdivision had a population of 211,228 and its built-up area, including the adjacent towns of Dunstable a ...

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 The Mangla Dam ( ur, ) is a multipurpose dam situated on the Jhelum River in the Mirpur District of Azad Kashmir. It is the sixth-largest dam in the world. The village of Mangla, which sits at the mouth of the dam, serves as its namesake. I ...

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

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 The Midlands (also referred to as Central England) are a part of England that broadly correspond to the Kingdom of Mercia of the Early Middle Ages, bordered by Wales, Northern England and Southern England. The Midlands were important in the Ind ...

, and a significant number also settled in

Southall Southall () is a large suburban county of West London, England, part of the London Borough of Ealing and is one of its seven major towns. It is situated west of Charing Cross and had a population of 69,857 as of 2011. It is generally divided ...

, 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

. At the same time, the number of Pakistanis coming over as workers declined. In addition, there was a stream of migrants from

East Pakistan East Pakistan was a Pakistani province established in 1955 by the One Unit Policy, renaming the province as such from East Bengal, which, in modern times, is split between India and Bangladesh. Its land borders were with India and Myanmar, wi ...

(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 ) , national_anthem = " Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi ...

and

Uganda }), is a landlocked country in East Africa. The country is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the south by Tanzania. The sou ...

Idi Amin Idi Amin Dada Oumee (, ; 16 August 2003) was a Ugandan military officer and politician who served as the third president of Uganda from 1971 to 1979. He ruled as a military dictator and is considered one of the most brutal despots in modern w ...

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 The Commonwealth Immigrants Act 1962 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The Act entailed stringent restrictions on the entry of Commonwealth citizens into the United Kingdom. Only those with work permits (which were typically on ...

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 A nationwide census, known as Census 2001, was conducted in the United Kingdom on Sunday, 29 April 2001. This was the 20th UK census and recorded a resident population of 58,789,194. The 2001 UK census was organised by the Office for National ...

. 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 Office for National Statistics (ONS; cy, Swyddfa Ystadegau Gwladol) is the executive office of the UK Statistics Authority, a non-ministerial department which reports directly to the UK Parliament. Overview The ONS is responsible for t ...

, 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 Multiple/dual citizenship (or multiple/dual nationality) is a legal status in which a person is concurrently regarded as a national or citizen of more than one country under the laws of those countries. Conceptually, citizenship is focused on ...

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

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 Oldham is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, amid the Pennines and between the rivers Irk and Medlock, southeast of Rochdale and northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of 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 Pashtuns (, , ; ps, پښتانه, ), also known as Pakhtuns or Pathans, are an Iranian ethnic group who are native to the geographic region of Pashtunistan in the present-day countries of Afghanistan and Pakistan. They were historically re ...

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 Pakistani passports ( ur, ) are passports issued by the Government of Pakistan to Pakistani citizens and nationals for the purpose of international travel. They are issued by the Directorate General of Immigration & Passports (DGIP) of the M ...

was estimated at 188,000 in 2017, making Pakistan the eighth most common non-British nationality in the UK.

Pakistan International Airlines Pakistan International Airlines ( ur, ; abbreviated PIA, ur, ) is an international airline that serves as the national flag carrier of Pakistan under the administrative control of the Secretary to the Government of Pakistan for Aviation. It ...

flies to several UK airports, while

British Airways British Airways (BA) is the flag carrier airline of the United Kingdom. It is headquartered in London, England, near its main hub at Heathrow Airport. The airline is the second largest UK-based carrier, based on fleet size and passengers ...

resumed its flights to Pakistan in 2019. Demographer

Ceri Peach Guthlac Ceri Klaus Peach (26 October 1939 - 3 October 2018) was a geographer from Bridgend, Wales. He was an undergraduate (BA 1961), graduate student (DPhil, 1964), and lecturer at Merton College, Oxford before being appointed to a lectureshi ...

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 Pashtuns (, , ; ps, پښتانه, ), also known as Pakhtuns or Pathans, are an Iranian ethnic group who are native to the geographic region of Pashtunistan in the present-day countries of Afghanistan and Pakistan. They were historically r ...

and

Kashmiris Kashmiris are an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group speaking the Kashmiri language, living mostly, but not exclusively, in the Kashmir Valley of Jammu and Kashmir, India.(a) (subscription required) Quote: "Kashmir, region of the northwestern ...

, and smaller communities of

Sindhis Sindhis ( sd, سنڌي Perso-Arabic: सिन्धी Devanagari; ) are an Indo-Aryan ethnic group who speak the Sindhi language and are native to the province of Sindh in Pakistan. After the partition of British Indian empire in 1947, man ...

and

Balochs The Baloch or Baluch ( bal, بلۏچ, Balòc) are an Iranian people who live mainly in the Balochistan region, located at the southeasternmost edge of the Iranian plateau, encompassing the countries of Pakistan, Iran, and Afghanistan. There ar ...

. 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 Leyton () is a town in east London, England, within the London Borough of Waltham Forest. It borders Walthamstow to the north, Leytonstone to the east, and Stratford to the south, with Clapton, Hackney Wick and Homerton, across the River L ...

, Walthamstow, Newham and

Barking Barking may refer to: Places * Barking, London, a town in East London, England ** London Borough of Barking and Dagenham, a local government district covering the town of Barking ** Municipal Borough of Barking, a historical local government dist ...

. Significant communities can also be found in the boroughs of Brent, Ealing and

Hounslow Hounslow () is a large suburban district of West London, west-southwest of Charing Cross. It is the administrative centre of the London Borough of Hounslow, and is identified in the London Plan as one of the 12 metropolitan centres in ...

in West London and

Wandsworth Wandsworth Town () is a district of south London, within the London Borough of Wandsworth southwest of Charing Cross. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. Toponymy Wandsworth takes its nam ...

and

Croydon Croydon is a large town in south London, England, south of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Croydon, a local government district of Greater London. It is one of the largest commercial districts in Greater London, with an extensi ...

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 Sadiq Aman Khan (; born 8 October 1970) is a British politician serving as Mayor of London since 2016. He was previously Member of Parliament (MP) for Tooting from 2005 until 2016. A member of the Labour Party, Khan is on the party's sof ...

, the mayor of London;

Anwar Pervez Sir Mohammed Anwar Pervez OBE, HPk ( ur, سر انور پرویز; born 15 March 1935) is a Pakistani-born British billionaire businessman and former bus conductor and driver. He is the founder and chairman of Bestway Group. According to the ...

, whose Earl's Court grocery store expanded into the Bestway chain with a turnover of £2 billion, and the playwright and author

Hanif Kureishi Hanif Kureishi (born 5 December 1954) is a British playwright, screenwriter, filmmaker and novelist of South Asian and English descent. In 2008, ''The Times'' included Kureishi in its list of the 50 greatest British writers since 1945. Early l ...

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 The Brummie dialect, or more formally the Birmingham dialect, is spoken by many people in Birmingham, England, and some of its surrounding areas. "Brummie" is also a demonym for people from Birmingham. It is often erroneously used in referring to ...

" Pakistanis can trace their roots to Azad Kashmir, with large minorities from Punjab and more recently,

Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (; ps, خېبر پښتونخوا; Urdu, Hindko: خیبر پختونخوا) commonly abbreviated as KP or KPK, is one of the four provinces of Pakistan. Located in the northwestern region of the country, 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

, 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 Pollokshields ( gd, Buthan Phollaig, Scots: ''Powkshiels'') is an area in the Southside of Glasgow, Scotland. Its modern boundaries are largely man-made, being formed by the M77 motorway to the west and northwest with the open land of Pollok ...

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 Faisalabad (; Punjabi/ ur, , ; ), formerly known as Lyallpur (Punjabi, Urdu: لائل پور), named after the founder of the city, but was renamed in 1977 in honour of late King Faisal of Saudi Arabia. It is the 3rd largest city of Pakis ...

and

Lahore Lahore ( ; pnb, ; ur, ) is the second most populous city in Pakistan after Karachi and 26th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 13 million. It is the capital of the province of Punjab where it is the largest city ...

. A survey by the

University of Glasgow , image = UofG Coat of Arms.png , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms Flag , latin_name = Universitas Glasguensis , motto = la, Via, Veritas, Vita , ...

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 The Minister for Transport is a member of the Scottish Government who reports to the Cabinet Secretary for Net Zero, Energy and Transport. As a Junior Minister the post holder is not a member of the Scottish Government Cabinet. Overview The ...

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 Greater Manchester is a metropolitan county and combined authority area in North West England, with a population of 2.8 million; comprising ten metropolitan boroughs: Manchester, Salford, Bolton, Bury, Oldham, Rochdale, Stockport, Tam ...

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

, 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 The A34 is a major road in England. It runs from the A33 and M3 at Winchester in Hampshire, to the A6 and A6042 in Salford, close to Manchester City Centre. It forms a large part of the major trunk route from Southampton, via Oxford, to B ...

to live in the affluent

Heald Green Heald Green is a suburb in the Metropolitan Borough of Stockport, Greater Manchester, England. In the south-west of the borough, near Manchester Airport and within the boundaries of the historic county of Cheshire, it is bordered by Gatley and C ...

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 Nottingham ( , locally ) is a city and unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located north-west of London, south-east of Sheffield and north-east of Birmingham. Nottingham has links to the legend of Robi ...

which formed 5.5% of the city's population. Within Bobbersmill and

Forest Fields Forest Fields is an inner-city area of the City of Nottingham, in the county of Nottinghamshire, England. Geography Forest Fields is slightly north of the city centre, just past the Forest Recreation Ground. The area includes 31 streets from ...

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 York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a ...

Mosque during the 1980's and

Harrogate Harrogate ( ) is a spa town and the administrative centre of the Borough of Harrogate in North Yorkshire, England. Historically in the West Riding of Yorkshire, the town is a tourist destination and its visitor attractions include its spa w ...

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 Shīʿa Islam or Shīʿīsm is the second-largest branch of Islam. It holds that the Islamic prophet Muhammad designated ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib as his successor (''khalīfa'') and the Imam (spiritual and political leader) after him, mo ...

branch. Other notable sects include

Ahmadiyya Ahmadiyya (, ), officially the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community or the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama'at (AMJ, ar, الجماعة الإسلامية الأحمدية, al-Jamāʿah al-Islāmīyah al-Aḥmadīyah; ur, , translit=Jamā'at Aḥmadiyyah Musl ...

, whose spiritual leader,

Mirza Masroor Ahmad Mirza Masroor Ahmad ( ur, ; born 15 September 1950) is the current and fifth leader of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community. His official title within the movement is Fifth Caliph of the Messiah ( ar, خليفة المسيح الخامس, ''khal� ...

, 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 Yorkshire and the Humber is one of nine official regions of England at the first level of ITL for statistical purposes. The population in 2011 was 5,284,000 with its largest settlements being Leeds, Sheffield, Bradford, Hull, and York. It is ...

to a low of 21.5% in Greater London. In

, there are also around 17,000

Pakistani Christians Christianity (Masihiyt) is the third largest religion in Pakistan, making up about 1.27% of the population according to the 2017 Census. Of these, approximately half are Catholic and half Protestant (primarily Anglican and Presbyterian). A smal ...

, and slightly fewer

Hindus Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...

, Sikhs, Zoroastrians (mainly

Parsi Parsis () or Parsees are an ethnoreligious group of the Indian subcontinent adhering to Zoroastrianism. They are descended from Persians who migrated to Medieval India during and after the Arab conquest of Iran (part of the early Muslim conq ...

s) 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 British English (BrE, en-GB, or BE) is, according to Lexico, Oxford Dictionaries, "English language, English as used in Great Britain, as distinct from that used elsewhere". More narrowly, it can refer specifically to the English language in ...

to be their first language. First-generation and recent immigrants speak

Pakistani English Pakistani English (also known as Paklish or Pinglish) is the group of English language varieties spoken and written in Pakistan. It was first so recognised and designated in the 1970s and 1980s. Pakistani English (PE), similar and related to ...

Urdu Urdu (;"Urdu"
'' commonly spoken language in the UK. Some secondary schools and colleges teach Urdu for

GCSEs The General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) is an academic qualification in a particular subject, taken in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland. State schools in Scotland use the Scottish Qualifications Certificate instead. Private sc ...

and

A Level The A-Level (Advanced Level) is a subject-based qualification conferred as part of the General Certificate of Education, as well as a school leaving qualification offered by the educational bodies in the United Kingdom and the educational au ...

Madrassa Madrasa (, also , ; Arabic: مدرسة , pl. , ) is the Arabic word for any type of educational institution, secular or religious (of any religion), whether for elementary instruction or higher learning. The word is variously transliterated '' ...

s also offer it along with

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walter ...

. 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 The Indo-Aryan language spoken on the Pothohar Plateau in the far north of Pakistani Punjab, as well as in most of Pakistan's Azad Kashmir and in western areas of India's Jammu and Kashmir, is known by a variety of names, the most common of whic ...

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 Pashto (,; , ) is an Eastern Iranian language in the Indo-European language family. It is known in historical Persian literature as Afghani (). Spoken as a native language mostly by ethnic Pashtuns, it is one of the two official langua ...

, 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 British Afghans are British citizens and non-citizen residents born in or with ancestors from, Afghanistan, part of worldwide Afghan diaspora. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) estimates that there were 79,000 people born in Afghanistan l ...

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 British people in Pakistan ( ur, برطانوی باشندے) consist of British people and their descendants who emigrated from the United Kingdom. A sizeable number of Britons in Pakistan are British Pakistanis, descendants of Pakistani immigran ...

, 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 Dubai (, ; ar, دبي, translit=Dubayy, , ) is the most populous city in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the capital of the Emirate of Dubai, the most populated of the 7 emirates of the United Arab Emirates.The Government and Politics of ...

, in the

UAE The United Arab Emirates (UAE; ar, اَلْإِمَارَات الْعَرَبِيَة الْمُتَحِدَة ), or simply the Emirates ( ar, الِْإمَارَات ), is a country in Western Asia (The Middle East). It is located at th ...

, 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 Pakistanis in Hong Kong are an ethnic minority in Hong Kong numbering 18,094 persons according to the 2016 Official Census. In the 2011 census, 17,253 people held Pakistani nationality however this number has since decreased to 15,234 in the 20 ...

were given full British citizenship in 1997 during the

handover of Hong Kong Sovereignty of Hong Kong was transferred from the United Kingdom to the People's Republic of China (PRC) at midnight on 1 July 1997. This event ended 156 years of British rule in the former colony. Hong Kong was established as a special admini ...

, 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 citizen A British Overseas Territories citizen (BOTC), formerly called British Dependent Territories citizen (BDTC), is a member of a class of British nationality granted to people connected with one or more of the British Overseas Territories (prev ...

Culture

Pakistan's Independence Day is celebrated on 14 August in large Pakistani-populated areas of various cities, including Green Street in

Newham The London Borough of Newham is a London borough created in 1965 by the London Government Act 1963. It covers an area previously administered by the Essex county boroughs of West Ham and East Ham, authorities that were both abolished by the ...

, London, and the

Curry mile The Curry Mile is a nickname for the part of Wilmslow Road running through the centre of Rusholme in south Manchester, England. The name is earned from the large number of restaurants, takeaways and kebab houses specialising in the cuisine ...

in Manchester. Pakistani Muslims also observe the month of Ramadan and mark the Islamic festivals of

Eid al-Adha Eid al-Adha () is the second and the larger of the two main holidays celebrated in Islam (the other being Eid al-Fitr). It honours the willingness of Ibrahim (Abraham) to sacrifice his son Ismail (Ishmael) as an act of obedience to Allah's com ...

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 Pakistani cuisine ( ur, , romanized: ''pākistānī pakwān'') can be characterized by a blend of various regional cooking traditions from South Asia, Central and Western Asia, as well as elements from its Mughal legacy. The country's va ...

is strongly related to

North Indian cuisine North Indian cuisine is collectively the cuisine of Northern India, which includes the cuisines of Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and adjoining western Bihar. Sub-types of Nor ...

, coupled with an exotic blend of

Central Asian Central Asia, also known as Middle Asia, is a region of Asia that stretches from the Caspian Sea in the west to western China and Mongolia in the east, and from Afghanistan and Iran in the south to Russia in the north. It includes the former S ...

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 Birmingham City Council is the local government body responsible for the governance of the City of Birmingham in England, which has been a metropolitan district since 1974. It is the most populated local council area in the United Kingdom ...

attempted to trademark the Balti dish to give the curry

Protected Geographical Status Three European Union schemes of geographical indications and traditional specialties, known as protected designation of origin (PDO), protected geographical indication (PGI), and traditional specialities guaranteed (TSG), promote and protect nam ...

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 A balti or bāltī gosht ( ur, , hi, बाल्टी गोश्त) is a type of curry served in a thin, pressed-steel wok called a "balti bowl". The name may have come from the metal dish in which the curry is cooked, rather than from a ...

" or "Balti Belt".

Chicken tikka masala Chicken tikka masala is a South Asian dish consisting of roasted marinated chicken chunks ( chicken tikka) in a spiced sauce. The sauce is usually creamy and orange-coloured. The dish was popularised by cooks from South Asia living in Great B ...

has long been amongst the nation's favourite dishes and is claimed to have been invented by a Pakistani chef in

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

, though its origins remain disputed. There has been support for a campaign in Glasgow to obtain

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been de ...

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 , type = Non-ministerial government department , nativename = , nativename_a = , nativename_r = , logo = Food Standards Agency.svg , logo_width = , logo_caption = , seal = , seal_width = , seal_caption = , picture = , picture_width = ...

, 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 Chicken Cottage Limited is a UK-based fast food chain. The company is the master franchisor and owner of the "Chicken Cottage" brand. Its taste is modelled on a blend of the Indian subcontinent and Southern United States flavours using halal ing ...

and Dixy Chicken.

Sports

The expansion of the British Empire led to

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by str ...

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 Aftab Habib (born 7 February 1972) is an English former international cricketer. Habib was formerly the Hong Kong national coach, having been appointed on a three-year contract, including Hong Kong's appearance in the 2008 Asia Cup in Pakist ...

Usman Afzaal Usman Afzaal (born 9 June 1977) is a Pakistani born English cricketer who has played three Test matches for England, all against Australia in 2001. He is a left-handed middle order batsman and occasional left arm slow bowler. He started his f ...

Kabir Ali Kabir Ali (born 24 November 1980) is an English former cricketer. A right-arm seam bowler and useful lower-order right-handed batsman, he played one Test match for England in 2003, while also earning 14 ODI caps between 2003 and 2006. He star ...

Owais Shah Owais Alam Shah (born 22 October 1978) is a former England cricketer. A middle-order batsman, he played for Middlesex from 1995 to 2010 and Essex from 2011 to 2013 before announcing his retirement from first-class cricket. He played Twenty20 ...

Sajid Mahmood Sajid Iqbal Mahmood (Urdu: ساجد اقبال محمود, ''Sājid Iqbāl Maḥmūd''; born 21 December 1981) is a former English cricketer, who played all formats of the game. He is a right-arm fast-medium bowler who played international cri ...

Adil Rashid Adil Usman Rashid (born 17 February 1988) is an English cricketer who plays for England in One Day International (ODI) and Twenty20 International (T20I) cricket, and previously played for the Test team. In domestic cricket, he represents Yo ...

, Amjad Khan, Ajmal Shahzad,

Moeen Ali Moeen or Moein or Moien is a given name and surname. It is a Quranic name which means: helper, supporter, or provider of refuge. Notable persons with the name include: Persons with the given name * Moein (singer) (born 1951), Iranian singer * ...

Zafar Ansari Zafar Shahaan Ansari ( ur, ظفر انصاری; born 10 December 1991) is a former English cricketer who played for Surrey County Cricket Club and the England national team. A spin-bowling all-rounder, he bowled left-arm orthodox spin, and ba ...

and

Saqib Mahmood Saqib Mahmood (born 25 February 1997) is an English cricketer who plays for England and Lancashire. Primarily he is a right-arm fast bowler. He made his international Twenty20 debut for England in November 2019, with his Test debut in March 2 ...

have played cricket for

. Similarly, Asim Butt,

Omer Hussain Rana Omer Hussain (born 3 December 1984 in Paisley, Scotland), better known as Omer Hussain, is a Pakistani Scottish cricket player. He made his debut for the Scottish cricket team on 18 September 2005 in a C&G Trophy match against Warwickshi ...

Majid Haq Rana Majid Haq Khan (born 11 February 1983), better known as Majid Haq, is a Scottish cricketer. He is a left-handed batsman and an off spin bowler. He has represented Scotland at Under 17, Under 19 and Under 23 levels, making his debut for the ...

Qasim Sheikh Mohammad Qasim Sheikh (born 30 October 1984 in Glasgow) is a cricketer, who has played for Scotland and Pakistan Customs. A left-handed batsman, he made his debut for Scotland in a game against the Netherlands in the 2005 ICC Intercontinental C ...

and Moneeb Iqbal have represented

. Prior to playing for England, Amjad Khan represented

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of Denmark , establish ...

, the country of his birth.

Imad Wasim Syed Imad Wasim Haider (in Punjabi and ur, ; born 18 December 1988), commonly known as Imad Wasim, is a Pakistani international cricketer. He is a left-handed all-rounder. In August 2018, he was one of thirty-three players to be awarded a cen ...

became the first Welsh-born cricketer to represent Pakistan. Former Pakistani cricketer

Azhar Mahmood Azhar Mahmood ( pnb, اظہر محمود ساگر; born 28 February 1975) is a Pakistani cricket coach and former cricketer. He was the bowling coach of the Pakistani national cricket team until 2019. Previously, he played Tests and ODIs for Pa ...

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 The Pakistan national cricket team or Pak cricket team, often referred to as the Shaheens (), Green Shirts, Men in Green and Cornered Tigers is administered by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB). The team is a Full Member of the International ...

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 British Asians British Asians (also referred to as Asian Britons) are British citizens of Asian descent. They constitute a significant and growing minority of the people living in the United Kingdom, with 6.9% of the population identifying a ...

). Many players on the

Pakistan national football team The Pakistan national football team represents Pakistan association football in FIFA-authorized events and is controlled by the Pakistan Football Federation, the governing body for football in Pakistan. Pakistan became a member of FIFA in 1948 ...

are British-born Pakistanis who became eligible to represent the country because of their Pakistani heritage.

Zesh Rehman Zeshan Rehman ( ur, ; born 14 October 1983) is an English-born Pakistani former professional footballer who played as a defender. He is currently U18 coach and acting assistant coach at Portsmouth FC. He was the first British Asian to start ...

is a football defender who played briefly for

Fulham F.C. Fulham Football Club is an English professional football club based in Fulham, London, which compete in the . They have played home games at Craven Cottage since 1896, other than a two-year period spent at Loftus Road whilst Craven Cottage unde ...

, becoming the first British Asian to play in the

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Fo ...

, 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 Adnan Farooq Ahmed (Urdu: ; born 7 June 1984) is a former footballer who played as a midfielder. Born in England, he represented the Pakistan national team. He had an 11-year career in football, including a six-year international career in whi ...

, Amjad Iqbal, Atif Bashir, Iltaf Ahmed,

Kashif Siddiqi Kashif Mumtaz Siddiqi (born 25 January 1986) is a professional footballer who plays as a defender. Born in England, Siddiqi represented Pakistan at senior international level. After playing youth football with various teams in England, Sidd ...

, Reis Ashraf, Shabir Khan and Usman Gondal.

Hockey Hockey is a term used to denote a family of various types of both summer and winter team sports which originated on either an outdoor field, sheet of ice, or dry floor such as in a gymnasium. While these sports vary in specific rules, numbers o ...

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 Imran Ahmed Khan Sherwani (born 9 April 1962) is a former English international field hockey player. International career Sherwani won gold with the Great Britain squad at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul. He played on the left wing, and scor ...

was a hockey player of Pakistani descent who played for the English and Great Britain national field hockey teams.

Adam Khan Adam Khan (born 24 May 1985) is a British sportsman and racing driver of Pakistani descent. Having competed in the Euro3000 series in 2008, and despite missing the first four races he narrowly missed out on the championship. His performances ...

is a race car driver from

Bridlington Bridlington is a coastal town and a civil parish on the Holderness Coast of the North Sea in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It is about north of Hull and east of York. The Gypsey Race enters the North Sea at its harbour. The 2011 ...

, Yorkshire. He represents Pakistan in the

A1 Grand Prix A1 Grand Prix (A1GP) was a "single-make" open-wheel auto racing series that ran from 2005 until 2009. It was unique in its field in that competitors solely represented their nation as opposed to themselves or a team, the usual format in most for ...

series. Khan is currently the demonstration driver for the

Renault F1 The French automotive manufacturer Renault has been associated with Formula One as both team owner and engine manufacturer for various periods since 1977. In 1977, the company entered Formula One as a constructor, introducing the turbo engine ...

racing team.

Ikram Butt Ikram Butt (born 25 October 1968) is an English former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1980s and 1990s. He played at representative level for England, and at club level for Featherstone Rovers ( Heritage № 679), Leeds, ...

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

. 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 Matthew Philip Syed (born 2 November 1970) is a British journalist, author, broadcaster and former table tennis player. He competed as an English table tennis international, and was the English number one for many years. He was three times the me ...

was a table tennis international, and the English number one for many years. Lianna Swan is a swimmer who has represented Pakistan in several events.

Literature

A number of British Pakistani writers are notable in the field of literature. They include

Tariq Ali Tariq Ali (; born 21 October 1943) is a Pakistani-British political activist, writer, journalist, historian, filmmaker, and public intellectual. He is a member of the editorial committee of the ''New Left Review'' and ''Sin Permiso'', and con ...

Kamila Shamsie Kamila Shamsie FRSL (born 13 August 1973) is a Pakistani and British writer and novelist who is best known for her award-winning novel '' Home Fire'' (2017). Named on ''Granta'' magazine's list of 20 best young British writers, Shamsie has be ...

Nadeem Aslam Nadeem Aslam FRSL (born 11 July 1966 in Gujranwala, Pakistan) is a British Pakistani novelist. His debut novel, ''Season of the Rainbirds'', won the Betty Trask and the Author's Club First Novel Award. His critically acclaimed second novel '' Ma ...

Mohsin Hamid Mohsin Hamid ( ur, محسن حامد; born 23 July 1971) is a British Pakistani novelist, writer and brand consultant. His novels are '' Moth Smoke'' (2000), '' The Reluctant Fundamentalist'' (2007), ''How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia'' (2 ...

and others. Through their publications, diaspora writers have developed a body of work that has come to be known as

Pakistani English literature Pakistani English literature refers to English literature that has been developed and evolved in Pakistan, as well as by members of the Pakistani diaspora who write in the English language. English is one of the official languages of Pakistan (t ...

."Prolegomena to the Study of Pakistani English and Pakistani Literature in English" (1989), Alamgir Hashmi, ''Pakistani Literature'' (Islamabad), 2:1 1993.

Ethnicity and cultural assimilation

A report of a study conducted by The

University of Essex The University of Essex is a public research university in Essex, England. Established by royal charter in 1965, Essex is one of the original plate glass universities. Essex's shield consists of the ancient arms attributed to the Kingdom of Es ...

found British Pakistanis identify with 'Britishness' more than any other Britons. The study is one of several recent studies that have found that Pakistanis in Britain express a strong sense of belonging in Britain. The report showed that 90% of Pakistanis feel a strong sense of belonging in Britain compared to 84% of white Britons. English Pakistanis tend to identify much more with the United Kingdom than with England, with 63% describing themselves in a

Policy Exchange Policy Exchange is a British conservative think tank based in London. In 2007 it was described in ''The Daily Telegraph'' as "the largest, but also the most influential think tank on the right". ''The Washington Post'' said Policy Exchange's re ...

survey as exclusively "British" and not "English" in terms of nationality, and only 15% saying they were solely English.

Azad Kashmiris

Around 70% of all British Pakistanis trace their origins to the administrative territory of Azad Kashmir in northeastern Pakistan.

Christopher Snedden Christopher Snedden is an Australian political scientist and author. He has studied and published on the long-running Kashmir conflict between India and Pakistan. In his book, ''The Untold Story of the People of Azad Kashmir'' (2012), he proposed ...

writes that most of the native residents of Azad Kashmir are not of

Kashmiri Kashmiri may refer to: * People or things related to the Kashmir Valley or the broader region of Kashmir * Kashmiris, an ethnic group native to the Kashmir Valley * Kashmiri language, their language People with the name * Kashmiri Saikia Baruah ...

ethnicity; rather, they could be called " Jammuites" due to their historical and cultural links with that region, which is coterminous with neighbouring

and Hazara. Because their region was formerly a part of the princely 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 the Kashmir Valley region. The population of Azad Kashmir has strong historical, cultural and linguistic affinities with the neighbouring populations of upper

and

Potohar The Pothohar Plateau ( ur, ) is a plateau in north-eastern Pakistan, located between Indus River and the Jhelum River, forming the northern part of Punjab. Geography Potohar Plateau is bounded on the east by the Jhelum River, on the west by t ...

region of Pakistan. The first generation migrant from Azad Kashmir were not highly educated, and being from rural settlements, had little or no experience of urban living in Pakistan. Migration from Jammu and Kashmir began soon after the

as the majority of the male population of this area and the Potohar 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, the

project was built in the area, flooding the surrounding farmlands. Up to 50,000 people from Mirpur (5% of the displaced) resettled in Britain. More Mirpuris joined their relatives in Britain after benefiting from government compensation and liberal migration policies. Cities with large concentrations of Azad Kashmiris are Manchester, Bradford, Birmingham, Leeds and Luton. Today, there are an estimated 700,000 people from Azad Kashmir residing in the UK, 400,000 of whom are from the Mirpur region. Mirpur was considered a conservative district in the 1960s. Life in its rural villages, like most South Asian countries, was dominated by rigid

hierarchies A hierarchy (from Greek: , from , 'president of sacred rites') is an arrangement of items (objects, names, values, categories, etc.) that are represented as being "above", "below", or "at the same level as" one another. Hierarchy is an important ...

. An economic boom brought dramatic changes to the area after its residents began migrating to Europe, especially the UK, bolstering remittances to Pakistan. Families in Pakistan are close knit and the guiding influence behind everything from marriage to business. 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. The Azad Kashmiri expatriate community has made notable progress in UK politics and a sizeable number of MPs,

councillors A councillor is an elected representative for a local government council in some countries. Canada Due to the control that the provinces have over their municipal governments, terms that councillors serve vary from province to province. Unl ...

, lord mayors and deputy mayors are representing the community in different constituencies. The

2005 Kashmir earthquake The 2005 Kashmir earthquake occurred at on 8 October in Pakistani-administered Azad Kashmir. It was centred near the city of Muzaffarabad, and also affected nearby Balakot in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and some areas of Indian-administered Jammu an ...

caused widespread losses in Azad Kashmir, affecting many British Pakistanis. Many Azad Kashmiris have named their businesses after the Pakistani region. One of the largest companies incorporating such a name is Kashmir Crown Bakeries, which is a food-making business based in Bradford. The company is a major local employer and is the largest Asian food manufacturer in Europe. The owner, Mohammed Saleem, claims combining traditional Azad Kashmiri baking methods with vocational British training has given his baking business a multimillion-pound turnover.

Punjabis

Punjabis make up the second-largest sub-group of British Pakistanis, estimated to make up to a third of all British Pakistanis. With an equally large number from

Indian Punjab Punjab (; ) is a state in northern India. Forming part of the larger Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent, the state is bordered by the Indian states of Himachal Pradesh to the north and northeast, Haryana to the south and southeast, and ...

, two-thirds of all British Asians are of Punjabi descent, and they are the largest Punjabi community outside of South Asia, resulting in Punjabi being the third-most commonly spoken language in the UK."Punjabi Community".
The United Kingdom Parliament. Retrieved 2 November 2010 People who came from the Punjab area integrated much more easily into the

British society English society comprises the group behaviour of the English people, and of collective social interactions, organisation and political attitudes in England. The social history of England evidences many social and societal changes over the histo ...

as early Punjabi immigrants to Britain tended to have higher education credentials and found it easier to assimilate because many already had a basic knowledge of the English language (primarily

). Research by

Teesside University , mottoeng = Deeds Not Words , established = 1930 – Constantine Technical College1969 – as Teesside Polytechnic 1992 – gained university status , type = Public , endowment = £0.23 m (2019/20) , chancellor ...

has found the British Punjabi community of late has become one of the most highly educated and economically successful ethnic minorities in the UK. Most Pakistani Punjabis living in the UK trace their roots to the Pothohar region of northern Punjab while more recent immigrants have also arrived from large cities such as

and

Multan Multan (; ) is a city in Punjab, Pakistan, on the bank of the Chenab River. Multan is Pakistan's seventh largest city as per the 2017 census, and the major cultural, religious and economic centre of southern Punjab. Multan is one of the old ...

. British Punjabis are commonly found in the south of England, the Midlands, and the major cities in the north (with smaller minorities in former

mill towns A mill town, also known as factory town or mill village, is typically a settlement that developed around one or more mills or factories, usually cotton mills or factories producing textiles. Europe Italy * ''Crespi d'Adda'', UNESCO World Her ...

in Lancashire and Yorkshire).

Pashtuns

Pakistani

in the United Kingdom mainly originate from the provinces of

and northern

in Pakistan, though there are also smaller communities from other parts of Pakistan, such as

Pashtuns of Punjab The Pathans of Punjab ( pa, ; ps, د پنجاب پښتانه), also called Punjabi Pathans are originally Pashtun people who have settled in the Punjab region of Pakistan''Punjabi Musalmans''; by J. M. Wikely and India. Most of these Pashtun ...

from

Attock Attock ( Punjabi and Urdu: ), formerly known as Campbellpur (), is a historical city located in the north of Pakistan's Punjab Province, not far from the country's capital Islamabad. It is the headquarters of the Attock District and is 61st lar ...

. There are several estimates of the Pashtun population in the UK. ''Ethnologue'' estimates that there are up to 87,000 native

-speakers in the UK; this figure also includes Afghan immigrants belonging to the Pashtun ethnicity. Another report shows that there are over 100,000 Pashtuns in Britain, making them the largest Pashtun community in Europe. Major Pashtun settlement in the United Kingdom can be dated over the course of the past five decades. There is a British Pashtun Council which has been formed by the Pashtun community in the UK. British Pashtuns have continued to maintain ties with Pakistan over the years, taking keen interest in political and socioeconomic developments in Pakistan.

Sindhis

There are over 30,000

in Britain.

Karachi Karachi (; ur, ; ; ) is the most populous city in Pakistan and 12th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 20 million. It is situated at the southern tip of the country along the Arabian Sea coast. It is the former c ...

is the main city in the province and largest city in the country, the last UK airline pulled out from

Karachi airport Jinnah International Airport ( ur, جناح بین الاقوامی ہوائی اڈا) , formerly Drigh Road Airport or Karachi Civil Airport, is Pakistan's busiest international and domestic airport, and handled 7,267,582 passengers in 2017� ...

in 1991 and has not had such a link since.

Baloch

There is a small Baloch community in the UK, originating from the

province of southwestern Pakistan and neighbouring regions. There are many Baloch associations and groups active in the UK, including the Baloch Students and Youth Association (BSYA), Baloch Cultural Society, Baloch Human Rights Council (UK) and others. Some Baloch political leaders and workers are based in the UK, where they found exile.

Muhajirs

There are over 400,000 Urdu speakers in the UK, some of whom are Muhajirs. Muhajirs originally migrated from present-day India to Pakistan following the

partition of British India The Partition of British India in 1947 was the change of political borders and the division of other assets that accompanied the dissolution of the British Raj in South Asia and the creation of two independent dominions: India and Pakistan. T ...

in 1947. Most of them settled in Pakistan's largest city

, where they form the demographic majority. Many Muhajir Pakistanis later migrated to Britain, effecting a secondary migration. Altaf Hussain, leader of the

Muttahida Qaumi Movement Muttahida Qaumi Movement (abbreviated MQM) is a name currently claimed by two competing Pakistani political factions: * Muttahida Qaumi Movement – London, a political faction managed from the UK * Muttahida Qaumi Movement – Pakistan Muttah ...

(MQM)—the largest political party in Karachi, with its roots lying in the Muhajir community—has been based in England in self-imposed exile since 1992. He is controversially regarded to have virtually "ruled" and "remotely governed" Karachi from his residence in the north London suburb of

Edgware Edgware () is a suburban town in northern Greater London, mostly in the London Borough of Barnet but with small parts falling in the London Borough of Harrow and in the London Borough of Brent. Edgware is centred north-northwest of Charing Cros ...

Others

There is also a Pakistani Hazara community in the UK, concentrated particularly in Milton Keynes, northeastern London, Southampton and Birmingham. They migrated to the UK from

Quetta Quetta (; ur, ; ; ps, کوټه‎) is the tenth most populous city in Pakistan with a population of over 1.1 million. It is situated in south-west of the country close to the International border with Afghanistan. It is the capital of ...

and its surroundings, which is historically home to the large Hazara population in Pakistan.

Health and social issues

Health

Pakistanis together with Bangladeshis in the UK have poor health by many measures, for instance there is a fivefold rate of diabetes. Pakistani men have the highest rate of heart disease in the UK. In the UK, women of South Asian heritage, including British Pakistanis, are the least likely to attend breast cancer screening. A study showed that British-Pakistani women faced cultural and

language barrier A language barrier is a figurative phrase used primarily to refer to linguistic barriers to communication, i.e. the difficulties in communication experienced by people or groups originally speaking different languages, or even dialects in some ...

s and were not aware that breast screening takes place in a female-only environment.

Sexual health

British Pakistanis, male and female, on average claim to have had only one sexual partner. The average British Pakistani male claims to have lost his

virginity Virginity is the state of a person who has never engaged in sexual intercourse. The term ''virgin'' originally only referred to sexually inexperienced women, but has evolved to encompass a range of definitions, as found in traditional, modern ...

at the age of 20, the average female at 22, giving an average age of 21. 3.2% of Pakistani males report that they have been diagnosed with a sexually transmitted infection (STI), compared to 3.6% of Pakistani females. Cultural norms regarding issues such as chastity and marriage have resulted in British Pakistanis having a substantially older age for first intercourse, a lower number of partners, and lower STI rates than the national average.

Cousin marriages and health risks

Research in Birmingham in the 1980s suggested that 50-70% of marriages within the Pakistani community were consanguineous. Such a close relationship can double the likelihood of a child suffering from a

birth defect A birth defect, also known as a congenital disorder, is an abnormal condition that is present at birth regardless of its cause. Birth defects may result in disabilities that may be physical, intellectual, or developmental. The disabilities ca ...

from 3% to 6%. Children born to closely related Pakistani parents had an autosomal recessive condition rate of 4% compared to 0.1% for the European parents.

Cousin marriage A cousin marriage is a marriage where the spouses are cousins (i.e. people with common grandparents or people who share other fairly recent ancestors). The practice was common in earlier times, and continues to be common in some societies toda ...

s or marriages within the same tribe and clan are common in some parts of South Asia, including rural areas of Pakistan. A major motivation is to preserve patrilineal tribal identity. The tribes to which British Pakistanis belong include Jats,

Ahirs Ahir or Aheer are a community of traditionally non-elite pastoralists in India, most members of which identify as being of the Indian Yadav community because they consider the two terms to be synonymous. The Ahirs are variously described as a ...

Gujjars Gurjar or Gujjar (also transliterated as ''Gujar, Gurjara and Gujjer'') is an ethnic nomadic, agricultural and pastoral community, spread mainly in India, Pakistan and Afghanistan, divided internally into various clan groups. They were tradit ...

Awans Awans (; wa, Awan) is a municipality of Wallonia located in the province of Liège, Belgium. On January 1, 2006, Awans had a total population of 8,696. The total area is 27.16 km² which gives a population density of 320 inhabitants per k ...

Arain Arain (also known as Raeen) are a large Punjabi agricultural tribe with strong political identity and organisation, found mainly in the Pakistani provinces of Punjab and Sindh with a small population in parts of Indian Punjab, Uttar Pradesh ...

Rajputs Rajput (from Sanskrit ''raja-putra'' 'son of a king') is a large multi-component cluster of castes, kin bodies, and local groups, sharing social status and ideology of genealogical descent originating from the Indian subcontinent. The term Ra ...

and several others, all of whom are spread throughout Pakistan and north India. As a result, there are some common

genealogical Genealogy () is the study of families, family history, and the tracing of their lineages. Genealogists use oral interviews, historical records, genetic analysis, and other records to obtain information about a family and to demonstrate kin ...

origins within these tribes. Some British Pakistanis view cousin or in-tribe marriages as a way of preserving this ancient tribal tradition and maintaining a sense of brotherhood, an extension of the '' biradri'' (brotherhood) system which underpins community support networks. Most British Pakistanis prefer to marry within their own ethnic group. In 2009, it was estimated that six in ten British Pakistanis chose a spouse from Pakistan.

Forced marriage

According to the British Home Office, 38% of the cases of

forced marriage Forced marriage is a marriage in which one or more of the parties is married without their consent or against their will. A marriage can also become a forced marriage even if both parties enter with full consent if one or both are later force ...

investigated in 2014 involved families of Pakistani origin. This was the most common nationality, followed by Indians and Bangladeshis. The Home Office estimates that 79% of cases involved female victims and 21% involved male victims. 60% of the Pakistani forced marriages handled by the

British High Commission A British High Commission is a British diplomatic mission, equivalent to an embassy, found in countries that are members of the Commonwealth of Nations. Their general purpose is to provide diplomatic relationships as well as travel information, ...

assistance unit in Islamabad are linked to the small towns of

Bhimber Bhimber ( ur, ) is the capital of Bhimber District, in the Azad Kashmir. The town is on the border between Jammu region and Punjab in Pakistan proper about by road southeast of Mirpur. History Bhimber was the capital of the Chibhal dynasty, ...

and Kotli and the city of Mirpur in Azad Kashmir. According to 2017 data by the Forced Marriage Unit (FMU), a joint effort between the Home Office and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, of the 439 callers related to Pakistan, 78.8% were female and 21.0% were male, 13.7% were under the age of 15 and another 13.0% were aged 16–17. Over 85% of the cases dealt with by the FMU were dealt with entirely in the UK, preventing the marriage before it could take place. Victims were in some cases forced to sponsor a visa for the spouse.

Education

Data from the 2011 UK Census shows that 25% of British Pakistanis in England and Wales hold degree level qualifications, compared to 26% of White British people. This has increased since 1991, when the figures for both groups holding a degree were 7% and 13%, respectively. 26% of British Pakistanis in England and Wales did not have qualifications, compared to 24% of White British people, making them of one of the least qualified major groups.

Secondary education

As of 2021, Pakistani pupils perform similarly to the population as a whole at GCSE level for indicators such as 'Attainment 8' and obtaining strong passes in English and Maths, while having an above average 'Progress 8' rate. The British Pakistani GCSE pass rates do not distinguish the differences in achievement around the country, and Pakistani pupils have greater regional fluctuations than other groups. For example, in 2015, Pakistani pupils from London were achieving above the results of White British pupils regionally and nationally. 73.9% of Pakistani pupils in London achieved five or more A*-C grades, compared to the White British London average of 69.5% and 65.9% across England and Wales. In the

London borough of Croydon The London Borough of Croydon () is a London borough in south London, part of Outer London. It covers an area of . It is the southernmost borough of London. At its centre is the historic town of Croydon from which the borough takes its name; ...

, 79.7% of Pakistani pupils gained five or more A*-C grades, compared to an average of 77.8% of Indian pupils and 71.3% of White British pupils. These nationwide differences are the result of differences in material circumstances, social class, and migration histories of the different communities which make up British Pakistanis. In 2021, 31.5% of Pakistani students in England who were eligible for

free school meals A school meal or school lunch (also known as hot lunch, a school dinner, or school breakfast) is a meal provided to students and sometimes teachers at a school, typically in the middle or beginning of the school day. Countries around the world ...

achieved a strong pass in English and Maths. This figure is 9% higher than the national average of 22.5%. KingsCollegeChapelWest

Several Muslim schools also cater to British Pakistani pupils.

Higher education

According to the Office for National Statistics, there were 249,508 graduates of Pakistani descent in 2017, an increase from 185,827 in 2011. In 2017, approximately 16,480 British Pakistani students were admitted to university, almost a two-fold increase from 8,460 in 2006. In 2011, 51% of British Pakistanis chose to continue their studies at the university level. This was higher than the rate for White British (38%), Black Caribbean (41%), Mixed (40%), and lower than the rate for Indians (75%) and Bangladeshis (53%). The higher education drop out rate among British Pakistanis may be due to lower individualism where the family influences the individuals career choices, as well as high expectations which lead to a higher failure rate because individual interest does not match with the forced selection of the career. A lack of role models in higher education within the family may also be one of the reasons. Science and mathematics are the most popular subjects at A-Level and degree level among the youngest generation of British Pakistanis, as they begin to establish themselves within the field. In addition, there are over 10,000 Pakistani international students who enrol and study at British universities and educational institutions each year. There are numerous student and cultural associations formed by Pakistani pupils studying at British universities. Since 2008, thousands of British Pakistani graduates in Britain have been forced to work for low wages because of rising unemployment and recession in the country. The majority of graduates attended

post-1992 universities In the UK, a post-1992 university, synonymous with new university or modern university, is a former polytechnic or central institution that was given university status through the Further and Higher Education Act 1992, or an institution that ...

and graduated without experience. More than 20,000 British Pakistani students who graduated in 2012 were still without jobs six months after graduating. Moreover, an increasing number of university graduates are opting for low-paid minimum wage positions. In 2011 alone, some 10,270 graduates found work as labourers, couriers, office juniors, hospital porters, waiters, bar staff, cleaners, road sweepers and school catering assistants. This was almost double the number in 2008 before the UK recession struck.

Language education

Urdu courses are available in the UK and can be studied at GCSE and A-Level. Urdu degrees are offered by several British universities and institutes, while several others are also hoping to offer courses in Urdu, open to established speakers as well as beginners, in the future. The Punjabi language is also offered at GCSE and A-Level, and taught as a course by two universities:

SOAS, University of London SOAS University of London (; the School of Oriental and African Studies) is a public research university in London, England, and a member institution of the federal University of London. Founded in 1916, SOAS is located in the Bloomsbury are ...

(SOAS) and King's College London. Pashto is presently taught at SOAS and King's College London as well.

Economics

Location has had a great impact on the success of British Pakistanis. The existence of a North-South divide leaves those in the north of England economically depressed, although there is a small concentration of more highly educated Pakistanis living in the suburbs of Greater Manchester and London, as some Pakistani immigrants have taken advantage of the trading opportunities and entrepreneurial environment which exist in major UK cities. Material deprivation and under-performing schools of the inner city have impeded social mobility for many Mirpuris. British Pakistanis based in large cities have found making the transition into the professional middle class easier than those based in peripheral towns. This is because cities like London, Manchester, Leeds, Liverpool, Newcastle, Glasgow and Oxford have provided a more economically encouraging environment than the small towns in Lancashire and Yorkshire. On the other hand, the decline in the British textile boom brought about economic disparities for Pakistanis who worked and settled in the smaller mill towns following the 1960s, with properties failing to appreciate enough and incomes having shrunk. Most of the initial funds for entrepreneurial activities were historically collected by workers in food processing and clothing factories. The funds were often given a boost by wives saving "pin money" and interest-free loans exchanged between fellow migrants. By the 1980s, British Pakistanis began dominating the ethnic and

halal food Islamic dietary laws are dietary laws that Muslims follow. Islamic jurisprudence specifies which foods are '' '' (, "lawful") and which are '' '' (, "unlawful"). The dietary laws are found in the Quran, the holy book of Islam, as well as in col ...

businesses, Indian restaurants, Asian fabric shops, and travel agencies. Other Pakistanis secured ownership of textile manufacturing or wholesale businesses and took advantage of cheap family labour. The once multimillion-pound company

Joe Bloggs "Joe Bloggs" and "Fred Bloggs" are placeholder names used primarily in the United Kingdom to represent the average man on the street. It is used by students, on standardized test preparation courses, to represent the average test-taker. Many coun ...

is an example. Clothing imports from Southeast Asia began to affect the financial success of these mill-owning Pakistanis in the 1990s. However, some Pakistani families based in the major cities managed to buck this trend by selling or renting out units in their former factories. In the housing rental market, Pakistani landlords first rented out rooms to incoming migrants, who were mostly Pakistani themselves. As these renters settled in Britain and prospered to the point where they could afford to buy their own homes, non-Asian university students became these landlords' main potential customers. By 2000, several British Pakistanis had established low-cost rental properties throughout England.

Aneel Mussarat Aneel Mussarat is a British businessman, philanthropist and founder of MCR Property Group. Born and raised in Manchester, Aneel began building a career in real estate shortly after leaving school. He founded MCR Property Group in 1989 and turned ...

is an example of a property millionaire. His company, MCR Property Group, specialises in renting apartments to university students in

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

and

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a populat ...

. British Pakistanis are most likely to live in owner-occupied Victorian

terraced houses In architecture and city planning, a terrace or terraced house ( UK) or townhouse ( US) is a form of medium-density housing that originated in Europe in the 16th century, whereby a row of attached dwellings share side walls. In the United State ...

of the inner city. In the increasing suburban movement amongst Pakistanis living in Britain, this trend is most conspicuous among children of Pakistani immigrants. Pakistanis tend to place a strong emphasis on owning their own home and have one of the highest rates of home ownership in the UK at 73%, slightly higher than that of the White British population. Many first generation British Pakistanis have invested in second homes or holiday homes in Pakistan. They have purchased houses next to their villages and sometimes even in more expensive cities, such as

Islamabad Islamabad (; ur, , ) is the capital city of Pakistan. It is the country's ninth-most populous city, with a population of over 1.2 million people, and is federally administered by the Pakistani government as part of the Islamabad Capital ...

and

. Upon reaching the retirement age, a small number hand over their houses in Britain to their offspring and settle in their second homes in Pakistan. This relocation multiplies the value of their British state pensions. Investing savings in Pakistan has limited the funding available for investing in their UK businesses. In comparison, other migrant groups, like South Asian migrants from East Africa, have benefited from investing only in Britain.

Economic status

Statistics from the 2011 census show that Pakistani communities in England, particularly in the North and the Midlands, are disproportionately affected by low pay, unemployment and poverty. 32% cent of British Pakistanis live in a deprived neighbourhood, compared to 10% for England overall. Consequently, many fall within the

welfare Welfare, or commonly social welfare, is a type of government support intended to ensure that members of a society can meet basic human needs such as food and shelter. Social security may either be synonymous with welfare, or refer specifical ...

net. In Scotland, however, Pakistanis were less likely to live in a deprived area than the average. Sir Anwar Pervez, owner of one of the UK's largest companies, the

Bestway Bestway Group is a British multinational conglomerate company based in London, England. It has its operations in United Kingdom and Pakistan. The group owns the UK's second-largest wholesaler serving 125,000 independent retailers and caterers ...

group, and his family have assets of £1.364 billion, placing them 125th on the

Sunday Times Rich List 2021 The ''Sunday Times Rich List 2021'' is the 33rd annual survey of the wealthiest people resident in the United Kingdom, published by ''The Sunday Times'' online on 21 May 2021. The List was edited by Robert Watts who succeeded long-term compiler P ...

. In addition, several wealthy Pakistanis, including prominent politicians, own millions of pounds' worth of assets and properties in the UK, such as holiday homes. In 2017, 19.8% of Pakistani secondary school students were eligible for

, compared to 13.1% of White British pupils. Amongst pupils in Key Stage 1, 14.1% of both Pakistani and White British children were eligible for free school meals. A 2020 report by the

Runnymede Trust The Runnymede Trust is a race equality think tank in the United Kingdom. It was founded in 1968 by Jim Rose and Anthony Lester as an independent source for generating intelligence for a multi-ethnic Britain through research, network building, ...

found British Pakistani households have an estimated median total wealth of £127,000, placing them in third place out of the major ethnic groups in the UK. The statistics show the following:

Employment

According to the 2011 Census: Data from the 2011 Census shows British Pakistanis had one of the lowest employment rates amongst other ethnic groups and a lower than average employment rate in all regions of England and Wales, reported at 49%. The statistics also showed Pakistanis had one of the highest rates of unemployment at 12%. Around 60% of British Pakistani women were economically inactive and 15% were unemployed in 2011. Amongst older employed Pakistani women, many work as packers, bottlers, canners, fillers, or sewing machinists. Pakistani women have recently begun to surge into the labour market. The latest figures from the Office for National Statistics show British Pakistanis are far more likely to be self-employed than any other ethnic group, at 25%. Traditionally, many British Pakistanis have been self-employed, with many working in the transport industry or family-run businesses in the retail sector. The latest available data from the

Labour Force Survey Labour Force Surveys are statistical surveys conducted in a number of countries designed to capture data about the labour market. All European Union member states are required to conduct a Labour Force Survey annually. Labour Force Surveys are als ...

show that in the fourth quarter of 2019, the employment rate for British Pakistanis stood at 57% and unemployment rates were 7%. According to General Medical Council statistics, 14,213 doctors from Pakistan are registered in the UK, and 2,100 dentists of Pakistani ethnicity were registered with the

General Dental Council The General Dental Council (GDC) is an organisation which regulates dental professionals in the United Kingdom. It keeps an up-to-date register of all qualified dentists and other dental care professionals such as: dental hygienists, dental ther ...

as of 2017. Pakistani-origin doctors make up 4.6% of all doctors in the UK and Pakistan is one of the largest source countries of foreign young doctors in the UK. According to 2021 figures for 16-64 year olds, the combined British Pakistanis and Bangladeshi group had the lowest employment figure at 56% and the largest employment discrepancy by gender with 73% for males and 39% for females.

Social class

The majority of British Pakistanis are considered to be working or middle class. According to the 2011 Census, 16.5% of Pakistanis living in England and Wales were in managerial or professional occupations, 19.3% in intermediate occupations, and 23.5% in routine or manual occupations. The remaining 24.4% and 16.3% were classified under never worked or long-term unemployed and full-time students. Whilst British Pakistanis living in the Midlands and the North are more likely to be unemployed or suffer from social exclusion, some Pakistani communities in London and the south-east are said to be "fairly prosperous". It was estimated that, in 2001, around 45% of British Pakistanis living in both inner and outer London were middle class.

Media

Cinema

Notable films that depict the lives of British Pakistanis include ''

My Beautiful Laundrette ''My Beautiful Laundrette'' is a 1985 British romantic comedy-drama film directed by Stephen Frears from a screenplay by Hanif Kureishi. The film was also one of the first films released by Working Title Films. The story is set in London dur ...

'', which received a BAFTA award nomination, and the popular '' East is East'' which won a BAFTA award, a

British Independent Film Award The British Independent Film Awards (BIFA) is an organisation that celebrates, supports and promotes British independent cinema and filmmaking talent in United Kingdom. Nominations for the annual awards ceremony are announced in early November, ...

and a London Film Critics' Circle Award. '' The Infidel'' looked at a British Pakistani family living in East London, and depicted religious issues and the identity crisis facing a young member of the family. The film ''

Four Lions ''Four Lions'' (originally titled ''We Are Four Lions'') is a 2010 British political satire black comedy film directed by Chris Morris (in his directorial debut) and written by Morris, Sam Bain and Jesse Armstrong. The film, a jihad satire foll ...

'' looked at issues of religion and extremism. It followed British Pakistanis living in

Sheffield Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire a ...

in the North of England. The sequel to ''East is East'', called '' West is West'', was released in the UK on 25 February 2011. ''Citizen Khan'' is a sitcom developed by Adil Ray which is based on a British Pakistani family in Sparkhill, Birmingham, dubbed the "capital of British Pakistan". The soap opera '' EastEnders'' also features many British Pakistani characters. Pakistani

Lollywood Lollywood ( ur, , translit=lâli vuḍ) refers to Pakistan's film industry based in Lahore, previously the base for both Punjabi and Urdu language film production. Lahore has been the center of Pakistani cinema since the partition of I ...

films have been screened in British cinemas. Indian

Bollywood Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, refers to the film industry based in Mumbai, engaged in production of motion pictures in Hindi language. The popular term Bollywood, is a portmanteau of "Bombay" (fo ...

films are also shown in British cinemas and are popular with many second generation British Pakistanis and British Asians.

Television

BBC has news services in

Urdu Urdu (;"Urdu"
'' Pashto Pashto (,; , ) is an Eastern Iranian language in the Indo-European language family. It is known in historical Persian literature as Afghani (). Spoken as a native language mostly by ethnic Pashtuns, it is one of the two official langua ...

. In 2005, the BBC showed an evening of programmes under the title ''Pakistani, Actually'', offering an insight into the lives of Pakistanis living in Britain and some of the issues faced by the community. The executive producer of the series said, "These documentaries provide just a snapshot of contemporary life among British Pakistanis—a community who are often misunderstood, neglected or stereotyped." The Pakistani channels of

GEO TV Geo Television Network is a television channel based in Pakistan. It was established in May 2002 and is owned by the Jang Media Group. The channel began its test transmission on 14 August 2002, with regular transmission beginning on 1 October 2 ...

, ARY Digital and many others are available to watch on subscription. These channels are based in Pakistan and cater to the

Pakistani diaspora Overseas Pakistanis ( ur, ), or the Pakistani diaspora, refers to Pakistani people who live outside of Pakistan. These include citizens that have migrated to another country as well as people born abroad of Pakistani descent. According to th ...

, as well as anyone of South Asian origin. They feature news, sports and entertainment, with some channels broadcast in Urdu/Hindi.

Mishal Husain Mishal Husain (born 11 February 1973) is a British newsreader and journalist for BBC Television and BBC Radio. She is the main Sunday presenter of the ''BBC News at Ten'' and ''BBC Weekend News'' and one of the main presenters of BBC Radio 4's ' ...

is of Pakistani descent, and a newsreader and presenter for the BBC.

Saira Khan Saira Khan (born 15 May 1970) is an English television personality. She was a contestant on the first series of ''The Apprentice'' in 2005, in which she finished as the runner-up. From 2012 to 2017, Khan co-presented '' The Martin Lewis Money ...

hosts the BBC children's programme '' Beat the Boss''.

Martin Bashir Martin Henry Bashir (born 19 January 1963) is a British journalist. He was a presenter on British and American television and for the BBC's ''Panorama'' programme, for which he interviewed Diana, Princess of Wales in 1995. Although the intervie ...

is a Christian Pakistani who worked for

ITV ITV or iTV may refer to: ITV *Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of: ** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...

, then

American Broadcasting Company The American Broadcasting Company (ABC) is an American commercial broadcast television network. It is the flagship property of the ABC Entertainment Group division of The Walt Disney Company. The network is headquartered in Burbank, Cali ...

, before becoming

BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broad ...

Religious Affairs correspondent in 2016.

Radio

The

BBC Asian Network BBC Asian Network is a British Asian radio station owned and operated by the BBC. The station's target audience is people "with an interest in British Asian lifestyles", especially British Asians between the ages of 18 and 34. The station has ...

is a radio station available across the entire UK and is aimed at Britons of South Asian origin under 35 years of age. Apart from this popular station, there are many other national radio stations for or run by the British Pakistani community, including

Sunrise Sunrise (or sunup) is the moment when the upper rim of the Sun appears on the horizon in the morning. The term can also refer to the entire process of the solar disk crossing the horizon and its accompanying atmospheric effects. Terminology A ...

and

Kismat Radio Kismat Radio was a radio station broadcasting from the Crystal Palace Transmitter in south-east London. Background Kismat Radio was part of the Sunrise Radio Group, aimed at an audience of British Asians and South Asian expats aged 30+. Pr ...

of London. Regional British Pakistani stations include

Asian Sound Asian Sound Radio is a radio station located in Broadcast House, Southall Street in Manchester. It is the only 24-hour commercial radio station in the North West dedicated to the Asian community, broadcasting on MW across the whole region from Pr ...

of Manchester, Radio XL and Apni Awaz of Bradford and Sunrise Radio Yorkshire which based in Bradford. These radio stations generally run programmes in a variety of South Asian languages.

Print

The Pakistani newspaper the '' Daily Jang'' has the largest circulation of any daily Urdu-language newspaper in the world. It is sold at several Pakistani newsagents and grocery stores across the UK. Urdu newspapers, books and other periodical publications are available in libraries which have a dedicated Asian languages service. Examples of British-based newspapers written in English include the ''Asian News'' (published by Trinity Mirror) and the '' Eastern Eye''. These are free weekly newspapers aimed at all British Asians. British Pakistanis involved in print media include Sarfraz Manzoor, who is a regular columnist for ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'', one of the largest and most popular newspaper groups in the UK. Anila Baig is a feature writer at '' The Sun'', the biggest-selling newspaper in the UK.The Sun

Audit Bureau of Circulations An Audit Bureau of Circulations is a private organization that provides industry-agreed standards for media brand measurement of print publications and other media outlets in a given country. The International Federation of Audit Bureaux of Circula ...

. Retrieved 20 December 2010

Politics

British Pakistanis are represented in politics at all levels. In 2019 there were fifteen British Pakistani MPs in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. T ...

. Notable members have included Shadow Secretary of State for Justice Sadiq Khan and

Home Secretary The secretary of state for the Home Department, otherwise known as the home secretary, is a senior minister of the Crown in the Government of the United Kingdom. The home secretary leads the Home Office, and is responsible for all national s ...

Sajid Javid Sajid Javid (; born 5 December 1969) is a British politician who served as Secretary of State for Health and Social Care from June 2021 to July 2022, having previously served as Home Secretary from 2018 to 2019 and Chancellor of the Exchequer ...

, described by ''The Guardian'' as a 'rising star' in the Tory party. ''The Guardian'' stated that, "The treasury minister is highly regarded on the right and would be the Tories' first Muslim leader", whereas ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publish ...

'' said he could become the next Chancellor of the Exchequer, which he did in July 2019. The 2019 United Kingdom general election saw a record number of British Pakistani candidates. Notable British Pakistanis in the

House of Lords The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by appointment, heredity or official function. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminste ...

includes Minister for Faith and Communities and former chairman of the

Conservative Party The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right. Political parties called The Conservative P ...

Sayeeda Warsi Sayeeda Hussain Warsi, Baroness Warsi, (; born 28 March 1971) is a British lawyer, politician, and member of the House of Lords who served as co-Chairwoman of the Conservative Party from 2010 to 2012. She served in the Cameron–Clegg coalit ...

Tariq Ahmad Tariq Mahmood Ahmad, Baron Ahmad of Wimbledon (born 3 April 1968), is a British-Pakistani businessman and a Conservative life peer. He was appointed Minister of State for the Commonwealth and United Nations, and later for South Asia; then Ce ...

, Nazir Ahmed, and Qurban Hussain. Mohammad Sarwar of the Labour Party was the first Muslim member of the

British parliament The Parliament of the United Kingdom is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of Westminster, London. It alone possesses legislative suprem ...

, being elected for Glasgow in 1997 and serving until 2010. In 2013, Sarwar quit British politics and returned to Pakistan, where he joined the government and briefly served as the Governor of Punjab. Other politicians in Pakistan known to have held dual British citizenship include

Rehman Malik Abdul Rehman Malik NI (Punjabi, Urdu: رحمان ملک; born 12 December 1951 – 23 February 2022) was a Pakistani politician and a Federal Investigation Agency officer, having served as the Interior Minister from being appointed on 25 March ...

Ishrat-ul-Ibad Khan Ishratul Ibad Khan ( ur, , born 2 March 1963) is a politician who served as the 30th Governor of Sindh, Pakistan. lbad is a Pakistan-born citizen He took up the post of Governor of Sindh, Pakistan on 27 December 2002, becoming the youngest go ...

, and some members of the Pakistani

national National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, c ...

and provincial legislative assemblies. In 2007, 257 British Pakistanis were serving as elected councillors or mayors in Britain. British Pakistanis make up a sizeable proportion of British voters and are known to make a difference in elections, both local and national. They are much more active in the voting process, with 67% voting in the last general elections of 2005, compared to just over 60% for the country. Apart from their involvement in domestic politics, the British Pakistani community also maintains keen focus on the

politics of Pakistan The Politics of Pakistan () takes place within the framework established by the constitution. The country is a federal parliamentary republic in which provincial governments enjoy a high degree of autonomy and residuary powers. Executive ...

and has served as an important soft power prerogative in historical, cultural, economic and bilateral relations between Pakistan and the United Kingdom. Major Pakistani political parties such as the Pakistan Muslim League (N), Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, the Pakistan Peoples Party, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement and others have political chapters and support in the UK. Some of the most influential names in Pakistani politics are known to have studied, lived or exiled in the UK. London, in particular, has long served as a hub of Pakistani political activities overseas. The British Mirpuri community has a strong culture of

diaspora politics Diaspora politics is the political behavior of transnational ethnic diasporas, their relationship with their ethnic homelands and their host states, and their prominent role in ethnic conflicts. Shain, Yossi & Tamara Cofman Wittes. Peace as a ...

, playing a significant role in advocating the settlement of the

Kashmir conflict The Kashmir conflict is a territorial conflict over the Kashmir region, primarily between India and Pakistan, with China playing a third-party role. The conflict started after the partition of India in 1947 as both India and Pakistan claimed ...

and raising awareness of human rights issues in Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir. Much of Pakistani lobbying and intelligence operations in the UK are focused on this key diaspora issue.

Labour Party

The Labour Party has traditionally been the natural choice for many British Pakistanis. The Labour Party are said to be more dependent on votes from British Pakistanis than the Conservative Party. British Pakistani support for Labour reportedly fell because of party's decision to take part in the

Iraq War {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Iraq War {{Nobold, {{lang, ar, حرب العراق (Arabic) {{Nobold, {{lang, ku, شەڕی عێراق ( Kurdish) , partof = the Iraq conflict and the War on terror , image ...

, when a substantial minority of Muslim voters switched from Labour to the Liberal Democrats. A 2005 poll carried out by

ICM Research ICM Research is a public opinion research company that was founded in 1989. ICM is a subsidiary of Creston Insight, a marketing services company, and is a member of the British Polling Council. History When ICM was initially established, the initi ...

(ICM) showed that 40% of British Pakistanis intended to vote for Labour in 2010, compared to 5% for the Conservative Party and 21% for the Liberal Democrats. However, according to survey research, 60% of Pakistani voters voted Labour in the subsequent general election, held in 2010 and this figure rose to more than 90% in the 2017 general election. High-profile British Pakistani politicians within the Labour Party include

Shahid Malik Shahid Rafique Malik ( ur, شاہد رفیق ملک نے; born 24 November 1967) is a British Labour Party politician, a technology and media industry chairman, a visiting professor, and chairman and adviser to a number of non-profit organis ...

and Lord Nazir Ahmed, who became the first Muslim life peer in 1998. Sadiq Khan became the first Muslim cabinet minister in June 2009, after being invited to accept the post by then-Prime Minister

Gordon Brown James Gordon Brown (born 20 February 1951) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Labour Party from 2007 to 2010. He previously served as Chancellor of the Exchequer in Tony B ...

Anas Sarwar Anas Sarwar (born 14 March 1983) is a Scottish politician who has served as Leader of the Scottish Labour Party since 2021. He has been a Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for the Glasgow region since 2016, having been Member of Parliame ...

served as an MP for Glasgow Central between 2010 and 2015, and was elected as leader of the Scottish Labour Party in February 2021.

Shabana Mahmood Shabana Mahmood ( ur, شبانہ محمود; born 17 September 1980) is a British Labour Party politician and barrister serving as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Birmingham Ladywood since 2010. Retrieved 7 December 2011 She has served in the ...

is the current Labour

Chief Secretary to the Treasury The chief secretary to the Treasury is a ministerial office in the government of the United Kingdom. The office is the second most senior in the Treasury, after the chancellor of the Exchequer. The office was created in 1961, to share the burde ...

Conservative Party

Some commentators have argued the Conservative Party has become increasingly popular with some British Pakistanis, as they become more affluent. However, analysis of a representative sample of ethnic Pakistani voters in the 2010 general election from the Ethnic Minority British Election Study shows that 13% of them voted Conservative, compared to 60% Labour and 25% Liberal Democrat. The proportion of British Pakistanis voting Conservative fell in the 2015 and 2017 general elections. Michael Wade, chairman of the Conservative Friends of Pakistan, has argued that while polls have shown that only one third of British Pakistani men would never vote Conservative, "the fact is that the Conservative Party has not been successful in reaching out to the British Pakistani community; and so they, in turn, have not looked to the Conservative Party as the one that represents their interests". The Conservative Friends of Pakistan aims to develop and promote the relationship between the Conservative Party, the British Pakistani community and Pakistan. David Cameron opened a new gym aimed at British Pakistanis in Bolton after being invited by Amir Khan in 2009. Cameron also appointed Tariq Ahmad, Baron Ahmad of Wimbledon, a Mirpuri-born politician, a

life peerage In the United Kingdom, life peers are appointed members of the peerage whose titles cannot be inherited, in contrast to hereditary peers. In modern times, life peerages, always created at the rank of baron, are created under the Life Peerages A ...

. Multi-millionaire

Sir Anwar Pervez Sir Mohammed Anwar Pervez OBE, HPk ( ur, سر انور پرویز; born 15 March 1935) is a Pakistani-born British billionaire businessman and former bus conductor and driver. He is the founder and chairman of Bestway Group. According to th ...

, who claims to have been born Conservative, has donated large sums to the party. Sir Anwar's donations have entitled him to become a member of the influential Conservative Leader's Group. Shortly after becoming the Conservative Party leader, Cameron spent two days living with a British Pakistani family in Birmingham. He said the experience taught him about the challenges of cohesion and integration.

Sajjad Karim Sajjad Haider Karim (born 11 July 1970) is a British politician. He served as a Member of the European Parliament for the North West England between 2004 and 2019. Sajjad is one of 10 members of the executive of European Movement UK and Chair o ...

is a

member of the European Parliament A Member of the European Parliament (MEP) is a person who has been elected to serve as a popular representative in the European Parliament. When the European Parliament (then known as the Common Assembly of the ECSC) first met in 1952, its ...

. He represents North West England through the Conservative Party. In 2005, Karim became the founding chairman of the European Parliament Friends of Pakistan Group. He is also a member of the Friends of India and Friends of Bangladesh groups. Rehman Chishti became the new Conservative Party MP for Gillingham and Rainham. Sayeeda Warsi was promoted chairman of the Conservative Party by the

prime minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister i ...

shortly after the 2010 UK general election. Warsi was the shadow minister for community cohesion when the Conservatives were in opposition. She is the first Muslim and first Asian woman to serve in a British cabinet. Both of Warsi's grandfathers served with the

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

in the Second World War.

Liberal Democrats, Scottish National Party and Others

In the 2003 Scottish Parliament elections, Scottish Pakistani voters supported the Scottish National Party (SNP) more than the average Scottish voter. The SNP is a centre-left civil nationalist party that campaigns for the independence of Scotland from the United Kingdom. SNP candidate Bashir Ahmad was elected to the Scottish Parliament to represent

at the 2007 election, becoming the first member of the Scottish Parliament to be elected with a Scottish Asian background.

Salma Yaqoob Salma Yaqoob (formally Jacob) (born 15 August 1971) is a British political activist and psychotherapist who served as the Leader of the Respect Party from 2005 until 2012, representing the party on Birmingham City Council. She led the Birming ...

is the former leader of the left-wing, anti-Zionist

Respect Party The Respect Party was a left-wing to far-left, socialist political party active in the United Kingdom between 2004 and 2016. At the height of its success in 2007, the party had one Member of Parliament (MP) in the House of Commons and nineteen ...

. The small party has seen success in areas such as Sparkbrook in Birmingham and Newham in London, where there are large Pakistani populations. Qassim Afzal is a senior Liberal Democrat politician of Pakistani origin. In 2009 he accompanied the then Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom to meetings with Pakistan's president,

Asif Ali Zardari Asif Ali Zardari ( ur, ; sd, ; born 26 July 1955) is a Pakistani politician who is the president of Pakistan Peoples Party Parliamentarians and was the co-chairperson of Pakistan People's Party. He served as the 11th president of Pakist ...

. There is no Pakistani MP in the Liberal Democrats.

Contemporary issues

Racism and discrimination

The chance of a Pakistani being racially attacked in a year is greater than 4%—the highest rate in the country, along with

British Bangladeshis British Bangladeshis ( bn, বিলাতী বাংলাদেশী, Bilatī Bangladeshī) are people of Bangladeshi origin who have attained citizenship in the United Kingdom, through immigration and historical naturalisation. The term c ...

—though this has come down from 8% a year in 1996. Police recorded figures also showed that in 2018–19, the highest proportion of victims (18%) of racially aggravated hate crimes were of Pakistani ethnicity. Between 2005 and 2012, just over half of the victims of Islamophobic incidents in London were Pakistani in ethnic appearance. The term " Paki" is often used as a racist slur to describe Pakistanis and can also be directed towards non-Pakistani South Asians. There have been some attempts by the youngest generation of British Pakistanis to

reclaim Reclaim, reclaimed, reclaimer, reclaiming or reclamation means "to get something back". It may refer to: * Land reclamation, creating new land from oceans, riverbeds, or lake beds * Dedesertification, reversing of the land degradation in arid ...

the word and use it in a non-offensive way to refer to themselves, though this remains controversial. In 2001, riots occurred in Bradford. Two reasons given for the riots were

social deprivation Social deprivation is the reduction or prevention of culturally normal interaction between an individual and the rest of society. This social deprivation is included in a broad network of correlated factors that contribute to social exclusion; thes ...

and the actions of extreme right wing groups such as the National Front (NF). The

Anti-Nazi League The Anti-Nazi League (ANL) was an organisation set up in 1977 on the initiative of the Socialist Workers Party with sponsorship from some trade unions and the endorsement of a list of prominent people to oppose the rise of far-right groups i ...

held a counter protest to a proposed march by the NF leading to clashes between police and the local South Asian population, with the majority of those being involved being of Pakistani descent.

"Paki-bashing"

Starting in the late 1960s, and peaking in the 1970s and 1980s, violent gangs opposed to immigration took part in frequent attacks known as "

Paki-bashing Paki is a term typically directed towards people of Pakistani descent mainly in British slang, and as an offensive slur is often used indiscriminately towards people of perceived South Asian descent in general. The slur is used primarily in th ...

", which targeted and assaulted Pakistanis and other

South Asians South Asian ethnic groups are an ethnolinguistic grouping of the diverse populations of South Asia, including the nations of India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan, the Maldives, and Sri Lanka. While Afghanistan is variously considered to b ...

. "Paki-bashing" was unleashed after

Enoch Powell John Enoch Powell, (16 June 1912 – 8 February 1998) was a British politician, classical scholar, author, linguist, soldier, philologist, and poet. He served as a Conservative Member of Parliament (1950–1974) and was Minister of Health (1 ...

's inflammatory

Rivers of Blood speech The "Rivers of Blood" speech was made by British Member of Parliament (MP) Enoch Powell on 20 April 1968, to a meeting of the Conservative Political Centre in Birmingham, United Kingdom. His speech strongly criticised mass immigration, especi ...

in 1968, and peaked during the 1970s–1980s, with the attacks mainly linked to far-right fascist, racist and

anti-immigrant Opposition to immigration, also known as anti-immigration, has become a significant political ideology in many countries. In the modern sense, immigration refers to the entry of people from one state or territory into another state or territory ...

movements, including the

white power skinheads White power skinheads, also known as racist skinheads and neo-Nazi skinheads, are members of a neo-Nazi, white supremacist and antisemitic offshoot of the skinhead subculture. Many of them are affiliated with white nationalist organizations an ...

, the National Front, and the

British National Party The British National Party (BNP) is a far-right, fascist political party in the United Kingdom. It is headquartered in Wigton, Cumbria, and its leader is Adam Walker. A minor party, it has no elected representatives at any level of UK gover ...

(BNP).Nahid Afrose Kabir (2012)
''Young British Muslims''
Edinburgh University Press These attacks were usually referred to as either "Paki-bashing" or "skinhead terror", with the attackers usually called "Paki-bashers" or "

skinheads A skinhead is a member of a subculture which originated among working class youths in London, England, in the 1960s and soon spread to other parts of the United Kingdom, with a second working class skinhead movement emerging worldwide in th ...

". According to Robert Lambert, "influential sections of the national and local media" did "much to exacerbate" anti-immigrant and anti-Pakistani rhetoric. The attacks were also fuelled by systemic failures of state authorities, which included under-reporting of racist attacks, the criminal justice system not taking racist attacks seriously, and racial harassment by police.