Parveen Akhtar

Setting the Scene: Post-War Pakistani Migration and Settlement

This chapter begins with a survey of the early post-war migration and settlement of Pakistanis in the UK. Insights from the early anthropological literature on the Pakistani population in Britain are used alongside retrospective interviews with individuals — their migration biographies — to provide an understanding of the context within which subsequent socio-political attitudes and behaviours were formed and to assess the influence of biraderi networks on these developments. The chapter illuminates the importance of kinship networks that developed from the expanding social roles of Pakistanis between migration and settlement. The migration of men, women and children are dealt with separately, highlighting the very different migration and kinship experiences based on gender and generation. The male experience of migration presented a particular set of issues focused on, though not limited to, employment and accommodation. Family reunification and the arrival of wives and children broadened the parameters of male migrant experiences in British society. There was a gradual, tacit acknowledgement by the migrants that their stay in the UK would be for longer than had previously been imagined. Yet many still had faith in an eventual — if somewhat delayed — return to Pakistan (Anwar, 1979).

Biraderis and Biraderi-Politicking in Contemporary Politics

The first three chapters have highlighted the multiple and diverse functions of biraderi in the social lives of Pakistani communities in the UK: from chain migration through to helping migrants to deal with the minutiae of life in a new country. In this chapter, I examine the mechanisms of biraderi in the realm of politics, in particular, the role of biraderi in the relationship between local political elites and community leaders. I also show some of the inter-generational changes which have the potential to significantly alter the future trajectory of biraderi in diaspora politics.

Politics of Immigration and Settlement Politics: State Responses, Masculine Corporatism and Biraderi Leadership

The first section of this chapter deals with how the two main political parties — the Conservatives and Labour — responded to post-war immigration to the UK, in particular, in relation to regulating and restricting such flows and accommodating settled communities through legislation. In the second section I examine how British Pakistanis dealt with immigration control and race legislation — specifically, the role of biraderi networks. In the final section I examine the relationship between local political elites and biraderi elders, and more specifically, the development of a masculine corporatist leadership amongst Pakistanis, which was encouraged and patronised by local politicians for political gain in the form of bloc community voting. Funding for local community initiatives (for example, Section 11) as implemented by local government facilitated the role biraderi played within the realm of politics by strengthening the power of community mediators, who were often biraderi elders.

From Cultural Religion to Political Islam and the Revival of Sufi Traditions

In the previous chapter I suggested that some young Pakistanis interested in politics, but who were deterred from mainstream politics by biraderi-politicking, turned to community activism as a way of channelling their ambitions for political and civic engagement. In this chapter I look at a small minority of Pakistanis who shun both mainstream electoral and new community organisations and become involved in political Islam. The working definition of ‘political Islam’ in this chapter refers not to a set of values and beliefs, but to a political ideology through which to change society. Olivier Roy defines political Islam as ‘contemporary Islamist movements — the activist groups who see in Islam as much a political ideology as a religion’ (1994: ix) and Islamism as ‘the contemporary movement that conceives of Islam as a political ideology’ (1994: ix). Political Islam is rooted in two movements: the call to fundamentalism, centred on the sha’ria (going back to scriptures of Islam), and anti-colonialism and anti-imperialism, which have simply become anti-Westernism (Roy, 1994: 4). If Muslims are viewed as the new threat to British security (Kundnani, 2002; Fekete, 2004), then it is a particular group of Muslims — Salafis — that have been identified as the most dangerous (Lambert, 2008; Pantazis and Pemberton, 2009). Amongst my respondents, the terms Salafis and Wahabis were used interchangeably across generations to refer to ‘extremists’.

Rushdie, the Limits of Biraderi Politics and Muslim Organisations

In the last chapter, the distinction was made between two types of Pakistani leaders: traditional and formal. In this chapter I identify three sources of Pakistani leadership in relation to the early years of settlement in the 1950s and 1960s. The historical analysis is necessary for understanding contemporary biraderi politics and the challenges from younger Pakistanis. First, leadership came from ethnic organisations,1 which includes both traditional and formal leaders. These sprang from voluntary organisations, helped immigrants with bureaucracy, language skills and other crucial matters of social integration. Eventually, they were endorsed by local councils as voluntary bodies. Second, leadership came from mosques, in the form of religious leaders — these were traditional and not formal leaders. These religious associations became increasingly tribal, and the boundaries between ethnic and religious leadership were blurred through biraderi. Finally, leadership came from generic race organisations; these included some traditional leaders but, in the early days of their conception, were mainly formal leaders, although, as we saw in the previous chapter, this was more of an academic arena for Pakistani leadership, since most Pakistanis were not involved in generic race organisations.

Changing Identities and Biraderi across Generations

How identities are constructed among the second generation of British Pakistanis has particular consequences for the political significance of biraderi. Chapter 4 dealt with how biraderi-politicking works in contemporary Pakistani communities in the UK and pointed to a disaffection amongst the younger generation who are much more critical of the use of biraderi for political advantage. This has developed from a number of changes which have taken place, and are still taking place, in three key arenas: religion, social experiences and the political context. It is clear that whilst biraderi links retain their importance for the younger generation as a set of social networks, biraderi-politicking, as a structure of political power and patronage, is in decline.

Young Pakistanis in the Public Sphere: ‘New’ Community Organisations

Chapter 2 detailed how welfare organisations were a way through which the first generation got involved in mainstream, local-level electoral politics. For the pioneer generation, involvement in welfare organisations was a role for biraderi elders, whose status as ‘immigrant brokers’ was, in turn, institutionalised in the patronage system. For younger Pakistanis, getting involved in community activism can also stem from, and lead to, ambitions for a role in mainstream electoral politics. However, instead of building up status as ‘biraderi brokers’, younger Pakistanis build up cultural capital: the skills and confidence to get involved in electoral politics. Of course, not all those who get involved in community activism want to end up in electoral politics.