NO! UK PM Rishi Sunak is not of Pakistani origin — Experts explain why

Rishi Sunak's wife, parents, and religion: After Rishi Sunak became the first non-white Prime Minister of Britain, social media has been flooded with posts regarding his ethnicity and origin. Many even claimed that his roots are somehow connected to both India and Pakistan. But various historians and political scientists clarified why it will be wrong to say that Sunak has a Pakistani origin.

An investment banker-turned-politician Rishi Sunak was born to African-born Hindu parents. His paternal grandfather, Ramdas Sunak, migrated to Nairobi, Africa from Gujranwala, currently in Pakistan in 1935. His paternal grandparents who were from Ludhiana, Punjab migrated to the UK from India in 1966.

Historians argue that despite Gujranwala being geographically located in modern-day Pakistan, it will be wrong to say that Sunak has Pakistani origins as his grandparents were Indian passport holders.

"In 1939 there was no Pakistan, Bangladesh, or even East Pakistan. They came into existence after the Partition of 1947. People from those areas who migrated to India wrote and continue to write the name of the city and 'undivided India' in parentheses when filling in the place of birth for official documents, including passports. This gets corroborated by the year of birth,” said Dr. Anuradha Bhattacharjee, historian and the author of "The Second Homeland: Polish Refugees in India".

Historians argued that Pakistan was created in 1947, so there was no Pakistani passport before that. Sunak’s ancestors traveled to Africa with Indian passports only. The British had facilitated the migration of a large number of people from India as labour and traders to many parts of the world including African countries. Many 'Indians' left Africa and headed to Britain in response to Ugandan dictator Idi Amin's 'Africa for Africans' call in the 1960s. Sunak's grandparents followed that trajectory.

“Before partition, it was only British India. Many people migrated to India after the partition from East Pakistan (Bangladesh) and West Pakistan. But they are not called to have Pakistani origin. By the time Pakistan was created, Sunak’s grandparents had already left,” added Dr. Vikas Pathak, a political columnist.

The bigger question lies in whether Rishi Sunak identifies himself ethnically as British Indian or British Pakistani in his UK documents, as both options exist in  British ethnicity-related documents. Rishi Sunak has stated to an Indian newspaper that he checks the 'British Indian' option in the census and other documents recording ethnicity in Britain.

A few years ago, Sunak has mentioned in one of his media interactions, “British Indian is what I tick on the census, we have a category for it. I am thoroughly British, this is my home and my country, but my religious and cultural heritage is Indian, my wife is Indian. I am open about being a Hindu.”