Is the Pakistani Diaspora in the West Doing Poorly?

[Riaz Haq]

A recent Dawn newspaper article entitled "Getting Ahead in the West" by British journalist Owen Bennet Jones suggests that Pakistanis in the US and the UK are doing poorly relative to their Indian counterparts. It builds this narrative using the example of 3 ministers of Indian origin and just one junior minister of Pakistani origin in Prime Minister Boris Johnson's cabinet. It also cites the example of the choice of Kamala Harris, who is seen as African-American in the US political context, on the Democratic presidential ticket headed by former Vice President Joseph R. Biden.

British Pakistanis: 

While it is true that the current British government has three ministers of Indian origin, it is also true that British Pakistanis Sajid Javid and Sayeeda Warsi held senior cabinet posts in recent British governments headed by Prime Ministers Teresa May and David Cameron. 

In addition to cabinet memberships, British Pakistanis have been elected as mayors of several cities, including London. They also have over a dozen seats in the British and European parliaments. 

Twelve British Pakistanis, including 5 women, have been elected members of parliament (MPs) in recent elections held in the United Kingdom, according to media reports.  Seven of them are members of the Labor Party and three belong to the Conservative Party. This sets a new record with the increase of two MPs from the May 2012 elections that resulted in the election of 10 MPs of Pakistani origin. British Pakistanis make up 1.8% of the British population, about the same as their representation in the House of Commons. There are 15 British Indians in the UK parliament and they make up 2.3% of the UK population. 

Upwardly Mobile Pakistani-Americans: 

A recent study shows that Pakistani-Americans are among 5 most upwardly mobile groups in the United States. Other top most upwardly groups are Chinese-Americans from Hong Kong, Taiwan and People's Republic of China and Indian-Americans.

Immigration to the United States continues to offer a route to escape poverty — if not for poor immigrants themselves, then for their sons, according to a study published by a team of economic historians at Princeton, Stanford and the University of California, Davis.

It is important to note that there are about 500,000 Pakistani-Americans, a fraction of about 3.2 million Indian-Americans in the United States. 

Average income rank of sons with parents in 25th percentile. Source...

Top 5 Upwardly Mobile Groups in America:

The study shows the adult outcomes of sons born in 1980 who grew up in poor families at about the 25th percentile of income distribution in the United States. Pakistani-American sons born in poor households are now at 59th percentile of income in the United States.

Sons of immigrants from Hong Kong in 25th percentile have the highest economic mobility are 64th percentile followed by China at 63rd, India at 62nd and Taiwan at 60th percentile. Sons of American born fathers are at 46th percentile, much lower than for the sons of immigrants. Only the sons of immigrants from the Caribbean island nations of  Haiti, Trinidad and Tobago and Jamaica have lower mobility.

Six of the Twelve British-Pakistani MPs

British Pakistani MPs and Peers:

In addition to the 12 British Pakistanis in the House of Commons, there are 8 members of the House of Lords, the upper house of the British Parliament, bringing the total strength of British Pakistanis in the UK parliament to 20. Most of them are from very humble backgrounds in rural Pakistan. Majority of Pakistanis in the UK are from Mirpur and its surrounding villages in Azad Kashmir. They or their parents migrated to Britain when they were given compensation by Pakistani government for their land to make way for the building of the massive Mangla Dam after the signing of the Indus Water Treaty between India and Pakistan in 1960. Five of the twelve British Pakistani MPs in the new parliament are from Azad Kashmir.

London Mayor Sadiq Khan:

Last year saw the election of Sadiq Khan as mayor of London, making him the first Muslim mayor of a major western capital city. Mayor Sadiq Khan is also of Pakistani-origin. Khan's father migrated to Britain in 1960s and worked as a London bus driver. Khan comes from a family of two generations of immigrants: His grandparents migrated from what is now India to the newly created state of Pakistan in 1947 and his parents migrated from Karachi to London in 1969. Sadiq Khan was born in London in 1970.

British Pakistanis' Struggles:

While the British Pakistanis have made some headway in the public sector in their new home, they continue to face discrimination, particularly in the private sector.  A 2016 study by the government’s Social Mobility Commission found that the "children of Bangladeshi and Pakistani origin in Britain have outperformed other ethnic groups to achieve rapid improvements at every level of education, but are significantly less likely to be employed in managerial or professional jobs than their white counterparts".

The study said that the "minority ethnic pupils (including Pakistanis) are outperforming white working class children in English tests throughout school, with white British teenagers coming bottom of the pile in the subject at GCSE level".

Pakistani Doctors in the West:

Pakistani doctors make up the third largest source of practicing physicians and surgeons in the United States.  Pakistan is also the second largest source of doctors of foreign origin serving in the United Kingdom, according to OECD. Indians make up 34% of the foreign doctors in Britain, followed by 11% from Pakistan.

Summary:

Pakistani-Americans are among the top 5 groups in terms of upward economic mobility, according to a study by researchers at Princeton, Stanford and UC Davis. Other immigrant groups with high mobility in America include Chinese and Indians.  It is important to note that there are about 500,000 Pakistani-Americans, a fraction of about 3.2 million Indian-Americans in the United States. British Pakistanis have achieved significant success in spite of their humble origins and discrimination they face in their adopted home. 12 of them serve as members of the House of Commons and 8 in the House of Lords. Mayor Sadiq Khan of London, the first Muslim leader of a major western capital, is the son of a London bus driver who migrated from Pakistan. British Pakistani children are outperforming their white working class peers in schools. British Pakistani doctors are the second largest population of doctors of foreign origin in the United Kingdom.  The British Pakistanis are among the best of the Pakistani diaspora, or any diaspora, in the world.  Pakistani-American have been described as "geniuses" by CNN analyst Van Jones.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gr5cLv8Dj2I

https://www.youtube.com/embed/gr5cLv8Dj2I"; width="560"></iframe>" height="315" src="https://img1.blogblog.com/img/video_object.png" width="560" style="background-color: #b2b2b2;" />

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Upwardly Mobile Pakistani-Americans

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British Pakistanis

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Riaz Haq's Youtube Channel

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[Riaz Haq]

Pro-#Modi #Indian-#Americans support #Trump. "Trump is a God-sent opportunity for Indian-Americans if they want to have a say in this country," says Mr Gaekwad, who believes this kind of outreach will make a difference in the outcome of #Election2020.
https://www.bbc.com/news/election-us-2020-54405737

The viral video, featuring President Trump and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, walking hand-in-hand and lathering praise on each other at a massive event held in Houston last year, had already attracted more than a million views on social media platforms, and the nearly 2,000 Indian-Americans on his chat groups were sharing it at a furious pace.

Meanwhile, for Mr Trump, mega-PR events like 'Howdy Modi!' and 'Namaste Trump' with the Indian prime minister - massive rallies held in each leaders' respective countries - have helped too.

In fact, the day after President Trump tested positive for coronavirus, a group of Hindu Indian-Americans in Chicago conducted a havan, an elaborate Hindu prayer ritual, for the "speedy recovery of the President and First Lady Melania".


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While Democrats do not have the bonhomie of Mr Trump and Mr Modi to boast of, they have Senator Kamala Harris as Democratic challenger Joe Biden's running mate - and there's ample evidence to suggest her presence has galvanised the party's Indian-American supporters.

Ms Harris identifies as black, given her father is a Jamaican-American, but on the campaign trail she often speaks about her late mother Shyamala Gopalan, a biomedical scientist who immigrated to the United States from India as a young woman.

Until recently, many Indian-Americans had assumed Ms Harris to be a black politician, but the way she talks about her mother and embraces her Indian roots seems to have endeared her to many in the community.

Ramesh Kapur, a Massachusetts-based Indian-American industrialist, says the impact of the senator's Indian-American roots is most visible at fundraisers.

At a virtual event for Mr Biden the last week of September, the community raised $3.3m (£2.5m) in one night - the target was $1.5m.

[Riaz Haq]

 In the congressional race between popular Detroit congresswoman Rashida Tlaib and her Democratic primary opponent, Brenda Jones, powerful interests have backed Jones’ campaign, records reveal. 

https://www.arabamericannews.com/2020/08/03/tlaibs-opponent-brenda-jones-gets-support-from-pro-modi-indian-nationalists-detroits-big-money-construction/

Representing one of these interests is an influx of supporters of Indian nationalist Prime Minister, and friend of President Trump, Narendra Modi, presumably due to Tlaib’s support of human rights in the Kashmir. The region has long been devastated by India’s ongoing military occupation and current lockdown. 

Modi’s government is also widely criticized for its attempt to pass racist citizenship laws in the country, a move that has sparked widespread protests. Detroit itself has seen protests against the Indian government’s treatment of Kashmir and its nationalist laws that target minorities. 

Earlier in July, the Hamtramck City Council adopted a resolution condemning India’s National Register of Citizens (NRC).

Tlaib has been vocal about the stripping of autonomous rights of the Kashmiri people and has said India’s unacceptable actions in the region strip Kashmiris of “their human dignity, put millions of people in danger and seriously undermine democracy in India and Kashmir.”

[ZAHRA ZAFAR]

In addition to cabinet memberships, British Pakistanis have been elected asmayorsof several cities, including London. They also have over a dozen  and European parliaments. 

[Riaz Haq]

Workers' #remittances to #Pakistan above $2 billion for 4th consecutive month in September, increasing to $2.3 billion, 31.2% up from last year, and 9% higher than in August. Remittances rose to a record $ 7.1 billion in Q1-FY21, 31.1% up over last year.

https://www.marketscreener.com/news/latest/State-Bank-of-Pakistan-T...

ERD/M&PRD/PR/01/2020-106

October 12, 2020

Trend of Strong Workers' Remittances Continues in September

Workers' remittances remained above $2 billion for the fourth consecutive month in September. They increased to $2.3 billion, 31.2 percent higher than the same month last year and 9 percent higher than in August.
On a cumulative basis, remittances rose to a record $ 7.1 billion in Q1-FY21, 31.1 higher than the same period last year.
The level of remittances in September was slightly higher than SBP's projections of $ 2 billion. Efforts under the Pakistan Remittances Initiative (PRI) and the gradual re-opening of major host destinations such as Middle East, Europe and United States contributed to the sustained increase in workers' remittances.

[Riaz Haq]

Boris Johnson's #British #Pakistani policy chief Munira Mirza resigns. She quit over PM's false claim that Opposition Leader Keir Starmer failed to prosecute serial sex offender Jimmy Savile when he was director of public prosecutions. #BorisTheLiar https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-60250036

Boris Johnson's top policy aide has quit over the PM's false claim that Sir Keir Starmer failed to prosecute serial sex offender Jimmy Savile when he was director of public prosecutions.

The PM made the remark on Monday as he came under attack over Sue Gray's report on Downing Street parties.

He later backed down, saying said the Labour leader "had nothing to do personally with those decisions".

Another senior aide, Jack Doyle, has also quit as communications director.

Munira Murza said the PM he should have apologised for the misleading remarks.

In her resignation letter, published by The Spectator, she wrote: "You are a better man than many of your detractors will ever understand, which is why it is so desperately sad that you let yourself down by making a scurrilous accusation against the leader of the opposition."

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Mirza's family came to the United Kingdom from Pakistan; her father found work in a factory while her mother was a housewife and taught Urdu part-time. Mirza was born in Oldham, Greater Manchester, North West England and had two older brothers and an older sister. She went to Breeze Hill School until 16, then moved to Oldham Sixth Form College for her A-levels. She was the only pupil in her Sixth Form college to gain a place at Oxford University, studying English Literature at Mansfield College, graduating in 1999. She then completed an MA in Social Research in 2004 and a PhD in Sociology in 2009, both at the University of Kent.

[Riaz Haq]

Ali Ahmed Aslam, 77, Credited With Inventing Chicken Tikka Masala, Dies
A Glasgow restaurateur, he was part of the rise of the British curry house — and played an essential part in its story.

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/22/dining/ali-ahmed-aslam-dead.html

Ali Ahmed Aslam, the Glasgow restaurateur who was often credited with the invention of chicken tikka masala, died on Monday. He was 77.

His son Asif Ali said the cause was septic shock and organ failure after a prolonged illness. He did not say where Mr. Aslam died.

Much like Cartesian geometry, chicken tikka masala was most likely not one person’s invention, but rather a case of simultaneous discovery — a delicious inevitability in so many restaurant kitchens, advanced by shifting forces of immigration and tastes in postwar Britain.

Many cooks claimed that they were the ones who served it first, or that they knew a guy who knew the guy who really did. Others insisted it wasn’t a British invention at all but a Punjabi dish. None of those stories seemed to stick.

Instead, the bright tomato-tinted lights of fame shone on one man: Mr. Aslam, who immigrated to Glasgow from a village outside Lahore, Pakistan, when he was 16, and who opened the restaurant Shish Mahal in 1964.

What seems to have established Mr. Aslam as the inventor of the dish was an unsuccessful 2009 bid by the Scottish member of Parliament Mohammad Sarwar to have the European Union recognize chicken tikka masala as a Glaswegian specialty. In an interview with Agence France-Presse, Mr. Aslam explained that he had added some sauce to please a customer once, and you could almost hear him shrug.

In Aslam family lore, it was a local bus driver who popped in for dinner and suggested that plain chicken tikka was too spicy for him, and too dry — and also he wasn’t feeling well, so wasn’t there something sweeter and saucier that he could have instead? Sure, why not. Mr. Aslam, who was known as Mr. Ali, tipped the tandoor-grilled pieces of meat into a pan with a quick tomato sauce and returned them to the table.

“He never really put so much importance on it,” Asif Ali said. “He just told people how he made it.”

Chicken tikka masala became so widespread that in 2001 Robin Cook, the British foreign secretary, delivered a speech praising the dish — and Britain for embracing it.

“Chicken tikka masala is now a true British national dish,” Mr. Cook said, referring to a survey that had placed it above fish and chips in popularity. “Not only because it is the most popular, but because it is a perfect illustration of the way Britain absorbs and adapts external influences.”

Mr. Aslam was born into a family of farmers, in a small village near Lahore. As a teenager, newly arrived to Glasgow in 1959, he took a job with his uncle in the clothing business during the day and cut onions at a local restaurant at night.

Mr. Aslam was ambitious, and he soon opened his own place in the city’s West End. He installed just a few tables and a brilliantly hot well of a tandoor oven, which he learned to man in a sweaty process of trial and error. He brought his parents over from Pakistan; his mother helped to run the kitchen, and his father took care of the front of the house.

In 1969, Mr. Aslam married Kalsoom Akhtar, who came from the same village in Pakistan. In Glasgow they raised five children. In addition to his son Asif, his survivors include his wife; their other children, Shaista Ali-Sattar, Rashaid Ali, Omar Ali and Samiya Ali; his brother Nasim Ahmed; and his sisters Bashiran Bibi and Naziran Tariq Ali.

Chicken tikka masala boomed in the curry houses of 1970s Britain. Soon it was more than just a dish you could order off the menu at every curry house, or buy packaged at the supermarket; it was a powerful political symbol.

[Riaz Haq]

37 year old practicing #Muslim #British #Pakistani Humza Yousaf wins race to replace Nicola Sturgeon as #Scotland's next leader. Humza was born in #Glasgow. His father was born in Mian Channu #Pakistan and his mother was born in #Kenya | Reuters


https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/scotlands-next-leader-be-announced...

LONDON, March 27 (Reuters) - Scottish nationalists picked Humza Yousaf to be the country's next leader on Monday after a bitterly fought contest that exposed deep divisions in his party over policy and a stalled independence campaign.

The 37-year-old practicing Muslim will succeed Nicola Sturgeon as leader of the governing Scottish National Party (SNP) and, subject to a vote in the Scottish parliament, take over as head of the semi-autonomous government.

Yousaf's victory was confirmed at Edinburgh's Murrayfield rugby ground on Monday afternoon after a six-week campaign where the three candidates spent much of the contest criticising each other's record in a series of personal attacks.

The SNP's unity, which had been one of its strengths, broke down over arguments about how to achieve a second independence referendum and the best way to introduce social reforms such as transgender rights.

Yousaf takes over a party with an overriding objective to end Scotland's three-centuries-long union with England.

But while about four in 10 Scots still support independence, according to a poll this month, the departure of Sturgeon - a charismatic and commanding leader - may slow some of the momentum behind a break up of the United Kingdom.

There is no agreed strategy for how to force a new referendum - one of the reasons Sturgeon resigned.

The often bad-tempered leadership contest has relieved some pressure on British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, who is dealing with divisions in his own party, waves of industrial action and high levels of inflation.

FRONTRUNNER
Yousaf won 24,336 of the votes of the SNP's members in the first round, while his main rival Kate Forbes 32, Scotland's finance minister, came second with 20,559 votes. Ash Regan, who quit the government because of her opposition to proposed changes to gender recognition, was third with 5,599 votes.

[Riaz Haq]

Watch: Muslim politician in a kilt swears oath in Urdu to British queen

By Ishaan Tharoor
May 13, 2016

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2016/05/13/watch-...

https://youtu.be/NE_J8wzo6ko

In an emphatic demonstration of British multiculturalism, a Muslim politician elected to Scottish parliament delivered his oath of allegiance in Urdu while wearing a kilt.

Humza Yousaf, a member of the Scottish National Party who won a seat from the city of Glasgow, spoke first in English and then in the language linked to his Pakistani heritage, swearing "that I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth" and concluding with "so help me God."

His party championed Scotland's unsuccessful bid for independence in 2014, framing its nationalism not on ethnic identity but on the desire for a distinct, diverse nation to have greater control over its affairs. The SNP now dominates politics in Edinburgh and has a sizable bloc of seats in Westminster as well.

On Twitter, Yousaf laughed off the predictable backlash to his oath from those fearful of the role of Islam in British society.

Yousaf was not the only politician to take the oath in another language: Other members of Scottish parliament spoke in local tongues such as Doric, Gaelic and Scots.

[Riaz Haq]

Humza Yousaf promises independence: What can new SNP leader deliver?

https://news.sky.com/story/humza-yousaf-promises-independence-what-...

Humza Yousaf made a few big promises as he succeeded Nicola Sturgeon as SNP leader - including healing divisions in his party, redoubling efforts to lift people out of poverty and, of course, Scottish independence.

On the Sky News Daily, Sally Lockwood is joined by our Scotland correspondent Connor Gillies and Shona Craven, columnist at The National, as we look at what we can expect from his leadership and discuss how he will measure up against his predecessors.

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ArainGang
@ArainGang
Scotland led by Pakistani Minister Humza Yousaf, will seek independence from the United Kingdom, which is led by Indian Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.

The Subcontinent Strikes Back

https://twitter.com/ArainGang/status/1640430192006139906?s=20

[Riaz Haq]

Craig Murray -
@CraigMurrayOrg
This is incredible. The Home Office's own extensive study found that there is no ethnic group particularly involved in paedophile grooming, and that most organised paedophile groups are white.
Braverman is truly disgusting.

https://twitter.com/CraigMurrayOrg/status/1642656137928404993?s=20

https://www.ucl.ac.uk/news/2020/dec/analysis-new-home-office-report...

The study finds no credible evidence for a far-right stereotype that has spread widely in the media, writes Dr Ella Cockbain (UCL Security & Crime Science) in an article co-authored with Dr Waqas Tufail for The Guardian.