A YEAR-long project will document the lives of early South Asian migrants in a bid to preserve their memories before they are lost forever.

The Asian community is the largest ethnic minority grouping in the country.

However, there are fears that important elements of the history of the South Asian community, which includes those from Bangladesh, India and Pakistan, are being lost as elderly members die.

Now a specialist history project will capture the stories of around 20 people to document the struggles and successes of life in Scotland for immigrants in the 1930s, 40s and 50s.

The material will then be turned into a book and touring exhibition expected to be complete next spring.

The initiative will be run by community radio station Awaz FM, which is recruiting a project officer to carrying out the work.

Station director Ali Malik said the work would also highlight the contribution made by South Asians in Scotland as Brexit increases tensions over immigration.

He told The National: “The people who travelled here over that time, there are not many of them left.

“It has been 70 years since Partition in India, when the British Raj ended. Some of these people could possibly have witnessed that.”

He went on: “The way our country is at the moment, with Brexit, there is a big focus on immigration. I think we should be championing that.

“Some of these people have come over here and built business empires. Not all have, and the project will also document their struggles and the problems they faced.”

No decision has yet been made about national, religious or gender breakdown of participants.

However, their testimonies will be filmed with audio also captured for radio use and the scope of the work may be extended if more than 20 people volunteer to take part.

Describing the scheme, the station said it will cover “the changing patterns of life” of those who have spent decades in their adopted home, including integration, employment trends, faith, social inclusions and accommodation.

A statement said: “Many early South Asian migrants to Scotland are dying, taking their personal histories with them.

“The project will aim to record those important memories before they were lost and to celebrate the history and achievements of Scotland’s South Asian community.

“The project will deal with issues of life in South Asia, experiences of immigration to the UK (Scotland) and differences between South Asians and Scottish culture.”

While much of the country’s Asian community is centred around Glasgow, where Awaz FM is based, Malik says the project will have a countrywide approach.

He said: “There are families up in Shetland and Orkney, people in Edinburgh and the east coast.

“A lot of these people have not told their stories, not even to their own families. Many may have simply thought it wasn’t important. We want to record that not just for the community, but for everyone.

“It’s about how people ended up here. I’m fascinated by that.”