Bradford , May 10, 1998

A district Council in W.Yorkshire, which hosts a large number of ethnic minorities, has decided to recognise the Kashmiri community based here as a separate and distinct community along with Indian, Pakistani and Bangladeshi communities and decided to change its ethnic monitoring procedures and official forms to categorise the Kashmiris separately. A large number of Kashmiris who hail from the Azad-Kashmir region here have hailed the Bradford City Council's decision as a historic landmark.

The Personnel, Policy and Planning Committee passed the decision following a three year long campaign by several pro-independence Kashmiri groups based in Bradford. They had demanded that the local government recognise them as Kashmiris and not categorise them as Indians or Pakistanis. The Council decision which also included the recognition of the Irish communities as a separate ethnic minority came into effect immediately.

Interestingly, the only opposition to this decision came from certain members of the Pakistani community and from members of the known anti-independence elements in the city but they failed to have the council decision overturned.