The present escalation of protests in the Indian controlled Kashmir definitely has a lot to do with a seperate identity for Kashmiris. That seems to have been achieved for now, far away here in the English Midlands.
I went to register at a local library run by Birmingham Council a couple of months back ( one of the many free goodies that European welfare states offer) and the registration form had a few questions on ethnic identity of mine:
1.Please state your ethnic identity : I checked the option ‘South Asian’
2. If you checked ‘South Asian’ as your ethnic identity, please state your detailed ethnic identity:
a. Indian b. Pakistani c. Bangladeshi d. Kashmiri
I was not surprised at all with that last option on the registration form, because Birmingham has the largest Kashmiri population outside of Kashmir. A seperate identity that for long has been in demand seems to have been recognised thousands of miles away. Passing through Small Heath, a district of Birmingham with a huge Kashmiri population, I once noticed a massive bill board asserting all Kashmiris to be identified as / identify one self as Kashmiri and not as Indian or Pakistani.
Food though unfortunately seems to have been left from this identity recognition exercise. Kashmiri delicacies like Roganjosh and sub Kashmiri cuisines like Balti ( a cuisine brought from kashmiri region of Baltistan, under Pakistani control) simply disappear into the fog of a more ambiguous term “Curry” or “Indian takeaway”.
