Dream always not come true: Red Passport is not sign of happiness

Dreams of luxurious and happy life are not come true for everyone who go to the United Kingdom. People who are moving to the Great Britain in search of their dreamy lives face isolation, financial stress, joblessness and even racism.

The trend is to stay on and to gain the ever-alluring British passport, as many youngsters patiently explain the logics. However, their views change abruptly when they land into the United Kingdom. 

Mirpur, Azad Kashmir is a region where every second person has a connection in UK. Everyone wants to go there through spouse, visit or on study visa. However, those who went there tell a different side of the picture.

Amaan, who went to the United Kingdom some two years ago after marrying with his first cousin, was completely illiterate. According to him, he was remained jobless for over a year due to language hurdles.

“I was studying at 8th grade when moved to UK through spouse visa. At start, I used to live inside home, as I didn’t know English so couldn’t move in the town and get a job,” Amaan said.

After spending a year at a home, he started working firstly at a chips-shop as a cleaner. According to him it was quite painful as his in-laws were uncooperative to him. He failed to develop a cordial relationship with his wife and communication gap between husband and wife led them to separation. Ultimately, Amaan was deported to Pakistan by his in-laws.

Rubina, who married to Chaudhary Kashif some four years ago, is still waiting for her husband. She was married at the age of 17.

Her husband, who was 27 at that time, didn’t call her to UK as he had another secret wife in UK. It was his second marriage but he didn’t inform to his in-laws.

Kashif didn’t come to Pakistan after his marriage and even don’t bear expenses of his wife. She is living with her parents who are forcing Kashif to divorce their daughter.

Karman Safdar was a graduate and moved to the United Kingdom after marrying with his second cousin. However, his wife refused to live with him when he went there. She developed relationship with another man and divorced him over his arrival in UK.

Due to mutual efforts of both the families, Safdar managed to get UK’s citizenship with permission of her ex-wife.

Mirpur, the most developed city of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK), is known as ‘Little England’ due to its large British-Pakistani community.

Pakistan had built the Mangla dam on Jhelum River with the help of an English firm and over 100,000 people had to abandon their homes. Mostly displaced people migrated to the United Kingdom which was offered to them by the British government.

Hence, British-born youngsters are often under family pressure to accept a partner within family from Pakistan.  However, they face quite difficulties in maintain their relationships due to life-style differences in the two countries.

Around 70% of the British Pakistanis can trace their origins to Mirpur and its surrounding areas in Azad Kashmir.

According to the British Home Office, as of 2000, more than half the cases of forced marriage investigated involve families of Pakistani origin, followed by Bangladeshis and Indians.

The Home Office estimates that 85 per cent of the victims of forced marriages are women aged 15–24, 90 per cent are Muslim, and 90 per cent are of Pakistani or Bangladeshi heritage. 60 per cent of forced marriages by Pakistani families are linked to the small Kashmiri town of Mirpur.

These forced-marriages ultimately end on separation. Divorce ratio is increasing among the youngsters in the area due to lack of education and differences in the living styles of the two countries.

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Posted by Faisal Farooq on Mar 13 2013. Filed under Opinion, Pakistan, Society. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.