Ethnic groups in Pakistan

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The major ethnic groups of Pakistan include Punjabis, Pashtuns, Sindhis, Saraikis, Muhajirs, Baloch, Paharis, Hindkowans, and other smaller groups. Smaller ethnic groups found throughout the nation include Khowar, Chitralis, Shina, Kalash, Siddi, Kashmiris, Burusho, Wakhis, Hazara and Baltis.

Pakistan's census does not include the 1.4 million citizens of Afghanistan who are temporarily residing in Pakistan.[1][2][3] Majority of them were born in Pakistan within the last four decades and are ethnically Pashtuns, Tajiks, Uzbeks and others.[4]

Ethnicity in Pakistan (2020) [5]

  Punjabis (44.7%)
  Pashtuns (15.4%)
  Sindhis (14.1%)
  Saraikis (8.4%)
  Muhajirs (7.6%)
  Balochis (3.6%)
  Others (6.3%)

Major ethnic groups[]

Ethnolinguistic groups of Pakistan in 1998
Bar Graph of Ethnic Groups by Region
Bar Graph of Ethnic Groups in Urban Pakistan

Punjabis[]

Main articles: Punjabis; Punjab, Pakistan; and Punjabi language
The four major ethnic groups of Pakistan

Punjabis are an Indo-Aryan ethno-linguistic group and they are the largest ethnic group in Pakistan by population, numbering approximately 110 million people and thus consisting of 50.0% of Pakistan's total population of 220 million in 2020. The Punjabis found in Pakistan belong to groups known as biradaris (literally 'brotherhood'), with further divisions between the zamindar or qoums, traditionally associated with agriculture, and moeens, traditionally associated with artisanry. Some zamindars are further divided into tribes such as Rajput, Jat, Shaikh, Gujjar, Awan, Arain and Syed. Ethnicities from neighbouring regions such as Kashmiris, Pashtuns and Baluchis also form a sizeable portion of the population of Punjab, especially in metropolises such as Lahore, Rawalpindi, Sialkot and Faisalabad. A large number of Punjabis descend from groups historically associated with skilled professions and crafts, such as the Sunar, Lohar, Kumhar, Tarkhan, Julaha, Mochi, Hajjam, Chhimba Darzi, Teli, , Qassab, Mallaah, Dhobi, Mirasi, etc.[6][7][8] The Pakistani Punjab is relatively religiously homogenous, with 97% of the population adhering to Islam (with small Hindu, Sikh and Christian minorities). Notable Punjabi-Pakistanis include Nobel laureate Abdus Salam, cricketer Wasim Akram and economist Mahbub al Haq.

Pashtuns[]

Main articles: Pashtuns, Pashtunistan, and Pashtuns in Punjab

Pashtuns (also referred to as Pukhtuns, Pathans and ethnic Afghans), an Iranic ethno-linguistic group, are Pakistan's second largest ethnicity (consisting 15% of the population). They are native to the regions, west of the Indus River including the provinces of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and northern Balochistan, southern and eastern Afghanistan.

They constitute a significant diaspora community in the cities of Lahore and Karachi, and are also a major ethnic group among the Afghan refugees in Pakistan. Pashtuns form the major ethnic group in Afghanistan. They follow Pashtunwali and a deep rich history linked to rulers.

They speak Pashto as their first language and are divided into multiple tribes such as Afridi and Yousafzai and Khattak, which are notably the main Pashtun tribes in Pakistan. They make up an estimated 35 million of Pakistan's total population[9][10] and are mostly adherent to Sunni Islam. Notable Pashtuns include former president Ayub Khan, incumbent prime minister Imran Khan, cricketers Shahid Afridi and Shaheen Afridi, actor Fawad Khan and Nobel Laureate Malala Yousafzai.

Sindhis[]

The Sindhis are an Indo-Aryan ethno-linguistic group who speak the Sindhi language and are native to the Sindh province of Pakistan and they are Pakistan's third largest ethnicity (consisting 14% of the country). Sindhis are predominantly Muslim. Sindhi Muslim culture is highly influenced by Sufi doctrines and principles and some of the popular cultural icons of Sindh are Shah Abdul Latif Bhitai, Lal Shahbaz Qalandar, Jhulelal and Sachal Sarmast.[11]

Saraikis[]

The Saraikis also known as Multanis,[12] are an ethnolinguistic group in central and southeastern Pakistan, primarily southern Punjab. Their language is Saraiki, which has similarities to Punjabi and Sindhi.

Muhajirs[]

Muhajirs (meaning "migrants") are also called "Urdu-speaking people." Muhajirs are a collective multiethnic group who emerged through the migration of Indian Muslims from various parts of India to Pakistan starting in 1947, as a result of the world's largest mass migration.[13][14] The majority of Muhajirs are settled in Sindh mainly in Karachi, Hyderabad, Sukkur and Mirpur Khas. Sizable communities of Muhajirs are also present in cities including Lahore, Multan, Islamabad, and Peshawar. Muhajirs held a dominating position during the early nation building years of Pakistan. Most Muslim politicians of the pre-independence era who supported the Pakistan movement were Urdu speakers. The term Muhajir is also used for descendants of Muslims who migrated to Pakistan after the 1947 partition of India.[8][15][16]

Baloch[]

The Baloch as an Iranic ethnic linguistic group, are principally found in the east of Balochistan province of Pakistan.[17] Despite living south towards the Gulf of Oman and the Arabian sea for centuries, they are classified as a northwestern Iranian people in accordance to their language which belongs to the northwestern subgroup of Iranian languages.[18]

According to Dr. Akhtar Baloch, Professor at University of Karachi, the Balochis migrated from Balochistan during the Little Ice Age and settled in Sindh and Punjab. The Little Ice Age is conventionally defined as a period extending from the sixteenth to the nineteenth centuries[19][20][21] (or alternatively, from about 1300[22] to about 1850[23][24][25]), although climatologists and historians working with local records no longer expect to agree on either the start or end dates of this period, which varied according to local conditions. According to Professor Baloch, the climate of Balochistan was very cold and the region was uninhabitable during the winter so the Baloch people migrated in waves and settled in Sindh and Punjab.[26]

Kashmiris[]

Kashmiri are a Dardic (subgrouping of Indo-Aryan) ethnic group native to the Kashmir Valley. The majority of Kashmiri Muslims are Sunni. They refer to themselves as "Kashur" in their mother language. Kashmiri Muslims are descended from Kashmiri Hindus and are also known as 'Sheikhs'.Since 1947, many ethnic Kashmiri Muslims also live in Pakistan. There are Kashmiris who live in areas that border the Kashmir Valley, in the Neelum and Leepa Valleys of northern Azad Kashmir. Invariably, Kashmiris in Azad Kashmir and Pakistan are Muslims.

Brahuis[]

The Brahui or Brahvi people are a Pakistani ethnic group of about 2.2 million people with the vast majority found in Balochistan, Pakistan. They are a small minority group in Afghanistan, where they are native, but they are also found through their diaspora in Middle Eastern states.[27] They mainly occupy the area in Balochistan from Bolan Pass through the Bolan Hills to Ras Muari (Cape Monze) on the Arabian sea, separating the Baloch people living to the east and west.[28][29] The Brahuis are almost entirely Sunni Muslims.[30]

Hindkowans[]

Hindkowans are a Hindko speaking people, they live mainly in the Hazara division and the Peshawar Division of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and there is also a large population of Hindkowans that can be found in the Pothohar Region of Punjab and Azad Kashmir in Pakistan. They have a population that consists of nearly four million people and they form 2% of Pakistan entire population.[10]

Hazara[]

The Hazara people, natives to the present day Hazarajat (Hazaristan), are a Persian-speaking people mostly residing in all Pakistan and specially in Quetta. Some are citizens of Pakistan while others are refugees. Genetically, the Hazara are a mixture of Turko-Mongols and Iranian-speaking peoples, and those of Middle East and Central Asia. The genetic research suggests that they are closely related to the Eurasian and the Uyghurs. The Pakistani Hazaras estimated population is believed to be more than 1,550,000.[31][32]

Burusho people[]

The Burusho or Brusho people live in the Hunza and Yasin valleys of Gilgit–Baltistan in northern Pakistan.[33] They are predominantly Muslims. Their language, Burushki, has not been shown to be related to any other language.[34] The Hunzakuts or Hunza people, are an ethnically Burusho people indigenous to the Hunza Valley, in the Karakorum Mountains of northern Pakistan. They are descended from inhabitants of the former principality of Hunza. The Hunza's are predominantly Shias, with many of them Ismaili.[35]

See also[]

  • Demographics of Pakistan
  • Minorities in Pakistan
  • Languages of Pakistan
  • Pakistanis
  • Indo-Iranian peoples

References[]

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  2. ^ "Government delivered first new Proof of Registration smartcards to Afghan refugees". May 25, 2021. Retrieved 2021-07-30.
  3. ^ "Registered Afghan Refugees in Pakistan". UNHCR. December 31, 2020. Retrieved 2021-07-30.
  4. ^ "Voluntary Repatriation Update" (PDF). Pakistan: UNHCR. November 2016. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2017-02-20. Retrieved 2017-11-26.
  5. ^ The World Factbook
  6. ^ Thorburn, S. S. (1983). Musalmans and Money Lenders in the Punjab ((reprint) ed.). New Delhi: Mittal Publications. ISBN 9789351137481.
  7. ^ Mirza, Z.I., Hassan, M.U. and Bandaragoda, D.J., 1997. Socio-Economic Baseline Survey for a Pilot Project on Water Users Organizations in the Hakra 4-R Distributary Command Area, Punjab.[1][dead link]
  8. ^ Jump up to: a b Nazir, P., 1993. Social structure, ideology and language: caste among Muslims. Economic and Political Weekly, pp. 2897-2900.
  9. ^ Livingston, Ian S. and Michael O'Hanlon (March 30, 2011). " Pakistan Index: Tracking Variables of Reconstruction & Security Archived July 14, 2014, at the Wayback Machine". Brookings Institution.
  10. ^ Jump up to: a b The World Factbook
  11. ^ "CIA Factbook Pakistan".
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  13. ^ "Rupture in South Asia" (PDF). UNHCR. Retrieved 2014-08-16.
  14. ^ Dr Crispin Bates (2011-03-03). "The Hidden Story of Partition and its Legacies". BBC. Retrieved 2014-08-16.
  15. ^ "Muhajirs in historical perspective". The Nation. 2014-11-07. Retrieved 2018-10-28.
  16. ^ Paracha, Nadeem F. (2014-04-20). "The evolution of Mohajir politics and identity". DAWN.COM. Retrieved 2018-10-28.
  17. ^ Blood, Peter, ed. "Baloch". Pakistan: A Country Study. Washington: GPO for the Library of Congress, 1995.
  18. ^ "Balochi and the Concept of North-Western Iranian" (PDF). Agnes Korn. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-03-03. Retrieved 2016-08-23.
  19. ^ Mann, Michael (2003). "Little Ice Age". In Michael C MacCracken and John S Perry (ed.). Encyclopedia of Global Environmental Change, Volume 1, The Earth System: Physical and Chemical Dimensions of Global Environmental Change (PDF). John Wiley & Sons. Retrieved 17 November 2012.
  20. ^ Lamb, HH (1972). "The cold Little Ice Age climate of about 1550 to 1800". Climate: present, past and future. London: Methuen. p. 107. ISBN 0-416-11530-6. (noted in Grove 2004:4).
  21. ^ "Earth observatory Glossary L-N". NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Green Belt MD: NASA. Retrieved 17 July 2015. Cite journal requires |journal= (help).
  22. ^ Miller et al. 2012. "Abrupt onset of the Little Ice Age triggered by volcanism and sustained by sea-ice/ocean feedbacks" Geophysical Research Letters 39, 31 January: abstract (formerly on AGU website) (accessed via wayback machine 11 July 2015); see press release on AGU website (accessed 11 July 2015).
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  25. ^ "1.4.3 Solar Variability and the Total Solar Irradiance - AR4 WGI Chapter 1: Historical Overview of Climate Change Science". Ipcc.ch. Retrieved 24 June 2013.
  26. ^ From Zardaris to Makranis: How the Baloch came to Sindh
  27. ^ James B. Minahan (30 August 2012). "Brahuis". Ethnic Groups of South Asia and the Pacific: An Encyclopedia. ISBN 9781598846607. Retrieved 21 November 2015.
  28. ^ Shah, Mahmood Ali (1992), Sardari, jirga & local government systems in Balochistan, Qasim Printers, pp. 6–7
  29. ^ Minahan, James B. (31 August 2016), "Brahui", Encyclopedia of Stateless Nations: Ethnic and National Groups around the World, 2nd Edition: Ethnic and National Groups around the World, ABC-CLIO, pp. 79–80, ISBN 978-1-61069-954-9
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  31. ^ Malik Ayub Sumbal. "The Plight of the Hazaras in Pakistan". thediplomat.com. The Diplomat. Retrieved 25 June 2016.
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  33. ^ "Jammu and Kashmir Burushaski : Language, Language Contact, and Change" (PDF). Repositories.lib.utexas.edu. Retrieved 2013-10-20.
  34. ^ "Burushaski language". Encyclopædia Britannica online.
  35. ^ Ghoash, Palash (1 February 2014). "Hunza: A Paradise Of High Literacy And Gender Equality In A Remote Corner Of Pakistan". International Business Times. Retrieved 31 July 2016.
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