As Brits are getting ready for referendum on whether to stay or leave European union, I was wondering what’s the stand of our Pakistani or Indian communities in UK?
I saw London mayor Sadiq Khan saying, “its the fight of our lives”. He is vowing to stay with EU.
Also two days back Conservative MP Saeeda Warsi took a flip from leave to stay camp.
What about others? What can be the impact on desi community after final verdict?
BREXIT polls: where does Pakistani community stand?
Ok , let me think.
Re: BREXIT polls: where does Pakistani community stand?
I am voting to stay.
Re: BREXIT polls: where does Pakistani community stand?
I am voting to stay.
Do you know any pakistanis who are voting to leave? Why would they do that?
Re: BREXIT polls: where does Pakistani community stand?
Do you know any pakistanis who are voting to leave? Why would they do that?
I know a few who are going to vote leave mainly because they feel there are too may immigrants. Oh the irony. Majority of sub continent people will vote to stay.
Re: BREXIT polls: where does Pakistani community stand?
Remain. It's the sensible option imo.
Re: BREXIT polls: where does Pakistani community stand?
Remain, duh.
Re: BREXIT polls: where does Pakistani community stand?
This Brexit bruhaha created volatility.
Which was nice while it lasted.
BREXIT polls: where does Pakistani community stand?
And so it happened...
Britian is Out of EU.... Sigh
Re: BREXIT polls: where does Pakistani community stand?
i couldn’t be more angry than i am right now at not only the idiotic, shockingly poor campaign that was run in the first place, but at the idiots who are given equal voting rights. i genuinely think the value of a vote needs to be weighed against the academic credentials and ability to be a decent, compassionate and sympathetic human being. 
it’s a reminder of the power of divisive tactics, and how real the Trump possibility is. we will feel the repercussions of our decision for a long time.
as for the question about the pakistani community, i have also heard of several pakistani muslims who voted leave because they felt that european countries had unfavourable views of muslims. yes, that was their real reason. &/&$$*&$
Re: BREXIT polls: where does Pakistani community stand?
Watched everything live after sehri. Pounds already fallen, £100+ billion wiped off the market and people are searching what happens now. And I hope a dragon burns wales, 2 faced little ****s. Scotland did good though.
Re: BREXIT polls: where does Pakistani community stand?
Why do I sense a civil war coming? Or even WWIII. This is only the beginning, guys. The world is becoming increasingly xenophobic and as it reaches more and more countries, they will want to leave the EU too. There will be no place for Muslims and our people will be forced to reform religion or the world will not accept them. I saw this coming years ago. I knew there will come a time muslims won't be tolerated because some of them believe the craziest things in the Quran and Hadith or they try to justify it. Reform is so important right now that we should all be voting to denounce parts of Islam that are incompatible with today's world. We need to or they will have every excuse to rid of this supposed evil they call 'radical islam'. As long as our scholars keep justifying the violence in Quran and Hadith by different interpretations or avoiding it altogether, we will have more and more people hate us. Christianity had to reform, now it is time for Islam to do the same or it will perish.
Re: BREXIT polls: where does Pakistani community stand?
If i was part of EU I would have voted to stay. Some in the leave camp are saying it is a good time to rebuild bonds with the commonwealth nations. UK has always supported migration and integration of minorities compared to many European countries. Especially in Germany and other places where they have had Islamophobic rallies.
Here is a view from the other side of Asians and Muslims who voted to leave the EU. Maybe UK will be less restricted to increase skilled migration from
It is interesting to note Birmingham, with a high asian population, decided to leave. Bradford, where many of my British Pakistani friends live also backed leave. This is 54% to 47% that’s not even close. EU referendum: Bradford votes to LEAVE the EU | Calendar - ITV News
This person brings up an interesting question. Why should EU migrants be given favour over skilled subcontinental migrants?
Will ethnic minority voters decide EU vote? - BBC News
Vote Leave has talked of renewing our links with Commonwealth countries. If the UK leaves the EU and is free to control EU migration, the suggestion is we would be able to bring in skilled workers from places which already have ties to Britain.
That has clearly registered with some BAME voters.
Kit Showande, an education consultant and entrepreneur whose family are from West Africa, told me: “Britain did things differently. There are lots more Caribbeans, Africans, Indians here than other European countries. Being out could allow us to build those relationships again.”
Aftab Chughtai runs a pram and children’s clothing shop on Birmingham’s famously diverse Alum Rock Road.
His parents arrived from Kashmir in the 1960s. His father worked in a factory, his mum later set up the shop which became a local institution. He too wants Britain to leave the EU.
“If it was fair and went all round the world, we could get the best people; computer programmers from India, nurses and doctors from Commonwealth countries where they speak our language and share our law. By staying in the EU, we don’t have control of that.”
In the referendum in 1975, it was argued Britain was turning its back on the Commonwealth. Clearly some now see June’s poll as an opportunity to fix that.
Looking on the bright side most Pakistanis and Indians have good grasp of English, as compared to many places in the EU, then why should migrants from these countries be given second preference compared to other European countries. This could turn out well for those of us in commonwealth countries who wish to settle in UK. This includes my country of Australia of course 
But i do feel for many Britishers who will face financial consequences and the confusion with the results of Ireland and Scotland. Hopefully they will stay as part of UK.
Re: BREXIT polls: where does Pakistani community stand?
Not saying leave was the best option. If i had voted I would vote to remain. Since the decision has been made here are the advantages of leaving and the views from the Asian/Muslim community who did.
Why British Muslims should vote to leave the EU - Telegraph
Why British Muslims should vote to leave the EUMuslims for Britain is a new campaign group that aims to win support for Brexit among the UK’s 3 million Muslims
Muslims are taking a stand for Britain. We have officially launched Muslims for Britain. It is a non-partisan group supporting the campaign for Britain to leave the outdated European Union. This is by no means a unique faith group. We follows Christians for Britain and other faith groups will launch over the next few weeks. What we have in common is the shared goal of dispelling myths surrounding an exit from the EU and a wish to return sovereign power back to our great nation.
There are over 3 million Muslims in Britain who make hugely significant contributions, economically, socially and politically. In London alone there are more than 14,000 Muslim owned businesses creating over 70,000 jobs. Great work is also being done socially by Muslims, as demonstrated by their response to the recent floods that hit the UK and by the fact that Muslims are Britain’s top charity givers. A record number of Muslim parliamentarians are also representing constituencies across the country. Muslims in Britain, like people of other faiths and none, have a clear interest in leaving the European Union and reclaiming our freedom from Brussels.
“How can it be fair that inexperienced, unqualified people are allowed to freely come to the United Kingdom from the EU, but we are unable to bring in talented individuals from the wider Commonwealth community?”
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The main purpose of this campaign is to get the argument across to the Muslim community, to explain why it is important to vote to come out of the EU as we are not exempt from its grip on Britain. The referendum is a historic opportunity to allow Great Britain to be in control of her own destiny once again. We British Muslims must play a necessary role in this. The referendum gives us the chance to echo the words of William Earnest Henley and tell Brussels, in no uncertain terms, we are masters of our own fate, captains of our own soul.
It is imperative that we seize this opportunity and vote to come out of the EU. Just look at the recent EU plans to levy VAT on Food and children’s clothes. These are things that would affect us all and the Muslim community must not stay silent and accept breaches of our core values, both British and Islamic.
At the Menin Gate I saw the ‘Khans’ and ‘Allah Dittas’ amongst the list of names inscribed. Coming from a Pakistani background, it was a most humbling and emotionally charged experience. These were Muslim soldiers who chose to fight and die for Britain.
How can it be fair that inexperienced, unqualified people are allowed to freely come to the United Kingdom from the EU, but we are unable to bring in talented individuals from the wider Commonwealth community? The current situation is undoubtedly restricting Britain’s economic potential and its ability to partner with the Commonwealth Nations to achieve mutual growth.
Wanting to leave the EU does not make us anti-Europe but by leaving we choose to be governed by our own democratically elected leaders. It is shocking and, quite frankly, farcical that for the last 20 years the EU accounts have not been signed off. We need to take back control to ensure accountability and transparency.
Forty years ago, the British public voted Yes to a free trade deal with Europe, what they didn’t vote for was a ‘United States of Europe’ one that would go on to crush our democracy. This referendum is an opportunity for us to take back control from the EU and I hope our British Muslim community will play an important role in achieving this.
Re: BREXIT polls: where does Pakistani community stand?
2/3 of black, asian and muslim voters voted to remain but around 33% voted to leave. Some of these reasons don’t sound completely unreasonable. Europe isn’t very immigrant friendly and there is not much multiculturalism apart from the UK. Also, in Pakistan and India most of our institutions are based on what the British left behind, as are many laws and language. Then why discrimination against immigrants from the subcontinent. Immigrants should be chosen based on their skills and contributions rather than being from EU.
Recent research by the British Election Study suggests that the ethnic minority vote could be crucial to the outcome of the 23 June referendum, and that while white voters are split roughly 50-50, about two-thirds of their black, Asian and ethnic minority (BAME) counterparts are in favour of remaining in the EU. So while the majority appear to back remain, what exactly is it that makes someBAME voters want to shut the door on immigrants?
They are concerned about the possible arrival of neo-Nazis from parts of Europewhere the far-right is strong, the influx of cheap eastern European workers elbowing out their blue-collar Asian counterparts, and resources in traditionally poor communities being stretched further.
Research by the Runnymede Trust, a race relations thinktank, recently revealed that many BAME people are “ambivalent about the benefits of the EU”. A report said: “They appear less likely to take advantage of free movement [very few move about for work and arguably feel less ‘shared identity’ with others in Europe].
“Some view Europe in explicitly ethnic or racial terms, identifying fortress Europe as a way of keeping out non-white immigrants while allowing significant levels of European migration.”
Those originally from Commonwealth countries feel white European migrants do not face the same difficulties with the immigration system as they do. The report said: “Long-settled migrants often feel they have had a difficult time in Britain or at least following their initial arrival; they then may see or think that newer migrants have had better or easier experiences.”
One of the loudest of these leave campaign voices is that of Amjad Bashir, a Ukip defector to the Tory party and now an MEP representing Yorkshire and the Humber.
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Amjad Bashir. Photograph: Christopher Thomond for the GuardianBashir’s father came to Britain in 1956 from Jhelum in Punjab, Pakistan. He worked in a textile mill until 1963 and then started his own fabric business.
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“Our ministers went over to the Commonwealth countries after two devastating world wars as they needed workers in the cotton mills of Lancashire to the factories in Birmingham. It was managed migration,” he says.
Bashir says he and his followers want a fair immigration system that does not discriminate against “auntie from Pakistan”. He does not want an influx of low-skilled workers from the EU into a jobs market already overflowing with low-skilled Asian workers. “Look, I’m not saying close the doors, but we need to manage this migration,” he says.
Bashir describes a recent meeting with 200 people at Carlisle Business Centre in Bradford, and claims 70% of those who attended were planning to vote to leave the EU. “Their main concerns are about the economy. We contribute so much to the EU, and to be perfectly honest we’d rather keep our money to ourselves, for our country, the NHS and infrastructure rather than sending it to Europe.
But spend more than five minutes with the Labour MP and it is clear he still has more affinity with Brexit. He tells horror stories of eastern European immigrants murdering Pakistani families and Asian women having their gold bangles torn from their arms by Romanian gangs.
Mahmood says he represents those people on the ground who will feel the direct impact of increased European migration.
He is fearful of the influx of poor immigrants into “ghettoised” communities that he says are already struggling with a lack of housing and resources. He says: “We don’t want an open house. We don’t do criminal checks on them. We can’t stop certain types of people coming in.”
He also claims eastern Europeans exploit the UK markets and send “benefit monies” back home to their large families.
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EU referendum: Brexit for non-BritsMahmood introduces one of his former leave colleagues, the accountant Saqib Bhatti, 30. In his office in Broad Street, Birmingham, a stack of pro-Brexit leaflets is piled high on his desk, carrying the strapline “Muslims for Britain”.
Bhatti and his entrepreneur friend Mohammed Ali, who runs an online grocery store, cite Commonwealth immigrants having a harder time with border controls and checks and the effect on labour markets and small businesses. Bhatti says: “The EU forces Britain to discriminate against people who want to migrate here from non-EU countries. This isn’t fair and doesn’t make sense.”
Re: BREXIT polls: where does Pakistani community stand?
The IslamChanneltv includes an interview from Saqib Bhatti of Muslims for Britain who support the leave movement.
Saqib Bhatti: EU’s too small for a proud and free Britain - Yorkshire Post
First, I believe our freedoms are most secure in our own hands. I have never understood why we need to be “given” our rights by judges from places with much less proud records than Britain’s. Britain has always been a beacon of liberty. That is not to say that British Muslims face no challenges; but those challenges are nothing like the bigotry and discrimination faced by many Muslims around Europe.
Second, we are a global country, linked by migration to every part of the world. If you are from a Commonwealth background, you will almost certainly know people who have had difficulty bringing friends and relatives to the UK – not to settle, but simply to visit. The UK has had to crack down savagely in its visa regime for non-EU nationals to make unlimited space for people with no connections to Britain. How can we have got to the position where we effectively turn away computer programmers from Bangalore in order to admit unskilled workers from Brasov?
I’m not arguing for an open-door immigration policy vis-à-vis the Commonwealth, any more than we should have one vis-à-vis the EU. All I’m asking for is fairness.
Third, and most important, the EU is declining economically. In 2006, it accounted for 55 per cent of our exports. Last year, that was down to 44 per cent. Where will it be in 20 years? Yet, as long as we are in the EU, we can’t sign a bilateral free trade agreement with India or Pakistan or Australia. Only the EU can do that on our behalf and, if ever it does so, it will not prioritise British interests, so as to protect textile producers and farmers in southern Europe.
Read more: Saqib Bhatti: EU’s too small for a proud and free Britain - Yorkshire Post
Saqib Bhatti on GeoTV with his reasons https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r2njfd3mJFs
Re: BREXIT polls: where does Pakistani community stand?
Why do I sense a civil war coming? Or even WWIII. This is only the beginning, guys. The world is becoming increasingly xenophobic and as it reaches more and more countries, they will want to leave the EU too. There will be no place for Muslims and our people will be forced to reform religion or the world will not accept them. I saw this coming years ago. I knew there will come a time muslims won't be tolerated because some of them believe the craziest things in the Quran and Hadith or they try to justify it. Reform is so important right now that we should all be voting to denounce parts of Islam that are incompatible with today's world. We need to or they will have every excuse to rid of this supposed evil they call 'radical islam'. As long as our scholars keep justifying the violence in Quran and Hadith by different interpretations or avoiding it altogether, we will have more and more people hate us. Christianity had to reform, now it is time for Islam to do the same or it will perish.
This is not the time nor the place (or thread) to talk about reformations of religion. There are plenty of other opportunities where you can discuss your view points, and I respect them in their dutiful place. The people who voted to get out of the EU are equally xenophobic of European nationals, aka anyone who doesn't speak English, as well as Muslims. Moreover, have you looked at the poll data of who voted for and against staying in EU? Majority of the people who voted out of EU were people not born in the UK. Be they be Indians, Pakistanis, or mainland Europeans. The ones who voted out of EU were those who weren't highly educated, and those who earned a low income. And these people are Muslims or British Pakistanis who for whatever reason have not traditionally valued higher education, or are those that own small businesses. So how does that fit in your ideas of a religion reformation?
Re: BREXIT polls: where does Pakistani community stand?
i hope the world gets a clue and moves its banking services out of london. no real reason for it to be there except historical precedence. time to let the british economy be seen for the sham it really is without all the funneling and skimming of the rest of the world's money in funky ways. goodbye UK, @#$% you.
Re: BREXIT polls: where does Pakistani community stand?
Why do I sense a civil war coming? Or even WWIII. This is only the beginning, guys. The world is becoming increasingly xenophobic and as it reaches more and more countries, they will want to leave the EU too. There will be no place for Muslims and our people will be forced to reform religion or the world will not accept them. I saw this coming years ago. I knew there will come a time muslims won't be tolerated because some of them believe the craziest things in the Quran and Hadith or they try to justify it. Reform is so important right now that we should all be voting to denounce parts of Islam that are incompatible with today's world. We need to or they will have every excuse to rid of this supposed evil they call 'radical islam'. As long as our scholars keep justifying the violence in Quran and Hadith by different interpretations or avoiding it altogether, we will have more and more people hate us. Christianity had to reform, now it is time for Islam to do the same or it will perish.
What makes you think that your new reformed "pseudo" islam would have an effect on wahabis? Before secularism, which has to happen at state level at least in a minimal separate of church and state, european priests and scholars fought back the other christianity with their own views. The other "reform" you are proposing by probably deleting quran is what would probably happen before qiyamat so you might get your wish.
Re: BREXIT polls: where does Pakistani community stand?
This is not the time nor the place (or thread) to talk about reformations of religion. There are plenty of other opportunities where you can discuss your view points, and I respect them in their dutiful place. The people who voted to get out of the EU are equally xenophobic of European nationals, aka anyone who doesn't speak English, as well as Muslims. Moreover, have you looked at the poll data of who voted for and against staying in EU? Majority of the people who voted out of EU were people not born in the UK. Be they be Indians, Pakistanis, or mainland Europeans. The ones who voted out of EU were those who weren't highly educated, and those who earned a low income. And these people are Muslims or British Pakistanis who for whatever reason have not traditionally valued higher education, or are those that own small businesses. So how does that fit in your ideas of a religion reformation?
When would be the right time then? I get what you are saying but look at how the world is looking at this supposed victory. Just go to youtube and see the insane comments and conclusions people have drawn from this event. People seem to think the UK will now be able to handle immigration (muslims) in ways that the EU didn't allow. Immigrants were somewhat protected under EU laws but that's not the case anymore. Conservatives around the world are celebrating and I am quite sure other European countries will be voting to leave EU too so they can deal with their immigration problem without EU interfering. That's dangerous for all immigrants but it will be a lot worse for muslim immigrants.
