User:Andrew233223/Overseas Pakistani

The first mass migration of Pakistanis began in 1965 during the construction of Mangla Dam in Azad Jammu & Kashmir. Over 280 villages around Mirpur and Dadyal were submerged, which led to the displacement of over 110,000 people from the region. Pakistanis emigrated from these areas and the regions of Attock and Nowshera due to high levels of unemployment in the regions and harsh terrain that made farming difficult. During the same period, the British government were actively seeking people from abroad to work in industrial towns in north-west England who were suffering from worker shortages. The industrial towns in England that many of the Pakistani emigrants ended up relocating to for work were the towns of Rochdale, Newcastle, Bristol, High Wycombe, Birmingham, Dewsbury, Huddersfield, and Bradford. Thus many worker permits for Britain were awarded to the displaced population of Mirpur who were eligible for work. Close to 50,000 Pakistanis from Mirpur emigrated to Northern England between 1965 and 1970. The Pakistanis who decided to emigrated to Britain in this time period were aided by the 1948 British Nationality Act which allowed for people from British commonwealth countries, such as Pakistan, and travel and settle in Britain as they were considered British citizens.

copied from Pakistani diaspora on May 7, 2023