Our story

In 1967, my Nana arrived in the UK at age 15, after a long journey from Mirpur, Azad Kashmir. He started working aged 15 in a factory 10-16 hours a day for many years, earning money and providing for his family.  Many years pass, and eventually the life you lived in your home country is now out numbered with the amount of years you lived in the new. Things like language and culture start I fade and understanding of heritage start to blur between the lines. 

About 40 years after my nana and nani arrived in the UK, I was born. Many People ask me if my grandparents are from Pakistan and I respond “Kashmir, Azad Kashmir” they reply “where’s that” and as I have grown older I realise nobody understands our our culture and heritage. 

I have always felt a fear affitity to my heritage through my love of history and my nani and nana, and a way that I have felt closer to my heritage and the villages back home is through creating the AJK way, finally after many years of planning and organising, Ii think its the right time to share this will everyone working the Azad Kashmiri British popluation.