RELIGIOUS and political leaders yesterday urged residents of South Asian heritage to celebrate the independence of the Indian sub-continent rather than recall the divisions of its partition.

Lancashire Council of Mosques chairman Abdul Hamid Qureshi, his predecessor Salim Mulla and former Blackburn MP Jack Straw stressed the importance of people’s common heritage 70 years after the event.

While much is made of the violence caused by the creation of India and Pakistan as the British left the subcontinent, they stressed that time had healed the hatred as new generations celebrated their Lancashire life.

Yesterday, the Pakistan Welfare Association for The Blackburn Food Bank marked the anniversary with a donation to Blackburn Food Bank.

Former Labour foreign secretary Mr Straw said: “The British leaving the India sub-continent is something to celebrate.

“Blackburn is unusual in being 55 per cent Pakistani Muslim and 45 per cent Gujarati Muslim but I think they see more in common than they do differences.”

Burnley resident Mr Qureshi, aged 59 and born in Pakistan’s Punjab, said: “There is something to celebrate but the new generations here do not remember the event of partition.

“They are aware of their heritage but increasingly celebrate being British and Lancashire.”

Blackburn’s Cllr Mulla, aged 64 and born in Gujarat said: “We celebrate our heritage but all live together here. My children and grandchildren increasingly feel British and Lancastrian not Indian.”