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By Suzana Sava

SOUTHALL, England, July 7 (Reuters)

India and Pakistan may have come close to war over Kashmir, yet far away from the conflict people of both nations are living side by side in neighbourly harmony.

As curry smells fill the air in the west London suburb of Southall, Indians and Pakistanis in traditional dress stroll along a high street of sari shops and halal butchers in living testimony that the two peoples can get along.

"Here we're all Asian. That's what matters," said Saima Aslam, who arrived from Pakistan one year ago and now works in an Indian sari shop in the largely Asian area.

"People here are not bothered about religion or nationality issues," she said. "This is an Indian Punjab shop and I'm working here. The fact that I am Pakistani does not make any difference at all."

More than 55 percent of Southall's 70,000 population is of Indian or Pakistani origin, the two communities blending almost seamlessly together.

It is a scene that is repeated in many other parts of Britain, where the country's 900,000 Indian-origin population and 500,000 people of Pakistani origin live together with relatively few problems between them.

WOUNDS KEPT OPEN

Aslam said she believed the conflict back home over the disputed Kashmir region would last for decades, unwanted by the people and fuelled by politicians and various interest groups.

She said Muslims and Hindus did not interact back in her home country but once in London they got to know and understand each other.

"I find more good friends in Indians than in anyone else," she added.

Local police share that impression.

"Liaison with community leaders has not identified any repercussions in the borough from events taking place abroad," Southall Police Chief Inspector Chris Allmey told Reuters.

He and colleagues hold regular meetings with community leaders, and officers from neighbouring areas, to review any possible local impact of the India-Pakistan standoff.

"In the event that a situation did arise locally as a result of the conflict I am confident that we would be able to resolve it with the help of the community," he added.

Rishi Prajapati, a young Hindu working in a fabric shop, arrived in May from the Gujarat region of India which this year witnessed the country's worst religious bloodshed in a decade.

He found relations in London rather better than at home. "All is fine," he said.

STILL WATERS RUN DEEP

But some warn there are heated debates behind closed doors. Indian Muslims are pledging their allegiance to Pakistan and may part ways with Hindu friends if the conflict escalated, they said.

"People are scared a similar conflict here may flare up" said an Indian Muslim born in Britain and studying at King's College London, who asked not to be named.

"There is concern," the student added. "The first conversation that comes up on a visit to friends is: 'How is everything in India?'. My family calls Gujarat regularly to check on relatives there."

In her Southall sari shop, Aslam said even in London Muslims preferred to live with Muslims, and Hindus with Hindus, for cultural reasons, but Southall provided them with a new home from home where they lived in harmony.

"People do not try to separate different nationalities or religions," she said. "Altogether for Asians this is a nice place to live because it is very much like home."

ASIAN ENCLAVE

At the local railway station, "Southall" is written in the language of the northern Indian state of Punjab, preparing visitors for an unusual British high street, where household names like chemists Boots or clothing chain GAP have made way for sari shops and street traders.

The traders sell products ranging from batteries and CDs to tear shaped yellow mangoes which they advertise as "fruits of paradise".

One shop sign hanging above a window display of Hindu idols reads "Little India", a nickname given to Southall, whose ethnic residents have attempted several times to rename it Punjabtown.

The local cinema is called Himalaya Place and shows mainly Asian "Bollywood" movies while the Glassy Junction pub announces on a plaque outside that it was the first pub in Britain to accept Indian rupees as payment.

Rather than inter-community problems, Indian and Pakistanis in Britain often face racism from the white community, leading to street riots such as those that shook the northern England city of Leeds last year.

But Britain's Commission for Racial Equality (CRE) says the Indian-Pakistan community has passed the test of integration. He cites examples such as the way chicken tikka masala has become a favourite dish in Britain and the show "Bombay Dreams" was a hit in London's theatreland.

"As the troubles between India and Pakistan continue, we must do all we can to maintain good relations between Pakistanis and Indians living in the United Kingdom," CRE Chairman Gurbux Singh said in a statement.

"We remain confident that Britain's Asian communities are well established and that they will not let these events damage race relations here."

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Copyright 2001 The Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Ltd.
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