Manghopir or Mangopir ( sd, ) is a neighbourhood in the

Malir district Malir District ( sd, ) is an administrative district of Karachi Division in Sindh, Pakistan. Map of Karachi Division History Before the independence of Pakistan, there were small villages of Sindhi and Kalmati Baloch in the Gadap T ...

Karachi, Sindh Karachi (; ur, ; ; ) is the most populous city in Pakistan and 12th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 20 million. It is situated at the southern tip of the country along the Arabian Sea coast. It is the former c ...

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 243 million people, and has the world's second-lar ...

, that previously was a part of

Gadap Town Gadap Town ( sd, گڏاپ ٽائون , ur, ) is a town in the northwestern part of Karachi with the Hub River on its western limits also forming the provincial border between Sindh and Balochistan, while to the north and east are Jamshoro Dist ...

until 2011. There are several ethnic groups in Manghopir including Muhajirs,

Sindhis Sindhis ( sd, سنڌي Perso-Arabic: सिन्धी Devanagari; ) are an Indo-Aryan ethnic group who speak the Sindhi language and are native to the province of Sindh in Pakistan. After the partition of British Indian empire in 1947, man ...

, Punjabis,

Kashmiris Kashmiris are an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group speaking the Kashmiri language, living mostly, but not exclusively, in the Kashmir Valley of Jammu and Kashmir, India.(a) (subscription required) Quote: "Kashmir, region of the northwestern ...

, Seraikis,

Pakhtuns Pashtuns (, , ; ps, پښتانه, ), also known as Pakhtuns or Pathans, are an Iranian ethnic group who are native to the geographic region of Pashtunistan in the present-day countries of Afghanistan and Pakistan. They were historically re ...

Balochis The Baloch or Baluch ( bal, بلۏچ, Balòc) are an Iranian people who live mainly in the Balochistan region, located at the southeasternmost edge of the Iranian plateau, encompassing the countries of Pakistan, Iran, and Afghanistan. There ar ...

Memons The Memon are an Indo-Aryan ethnic group that originated in the Sindh region of Pakistan. The majority of the Memon people around the world follow the Hanafi fiqh of Sunni Islam. The Memon people have cultural similarities with the Khoja, Khat ...

, Bohras, Ismailis, etc. The population of the neighborhood is Muslim. The population of

is estimated to be nearly one million. Manghopir is a rural area of

Karachi Karachi (; ur, ; ; ) is the most populous city in Pakistan and 12th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 20 million. It is situated at the southern tip of the country along the Arabian Sea coast. It is the former c ...

, named after Sufi Pir Haji Syed Sakhi Sultan. The area has the oldest Sufi shrines in the city, hot sulphur springs that are believed to have curative powers, and many crocodiles - believed locally to be the sacred disciples of Pir Mangho. Balochs often call this place as ‘Mangi’ or Garm-aab / Sard-aab (due to the presence of the hot & cold springs).

Manghopir Lake

One of the inhabitant of Shrine of Pir Mangho (Karachi)

The Manghopir Lake is situated near the shrine of Sufi

Pir Mangho Sheikh Hafiz Haji Hasan-al-Maroof Sultan Manghopir or Pir Mangho (Sindhi language, Sindhi and Urdu: خواجہ حسن سخی سلطان عرف منگھو پیر ) is the popular name for 13th century Sufi Pir (Sufism), Pir Haji Syed Khawaja ...

and there over one hundred

Mugger crocodile The mugger crocodile (''Crocodylus palustris'') is a medium-sized broad- snouted crocodile, also known as mugger and marsh crocodile. It is native to freshwater habitats from southern Iran to the Indian subcontinent, where it inhabits marshes ...

s in the lake which are fed by the pilgrims.Runaway crocodiles returned to Manghopir shrine
/ref>

Sheedis and Festivals

Manghopir is mostly inhabited by one of

's smallest ethnic communities, the

Sheedi The Siddi (), also known as the Sheedi, Sidi, or Siddhi, or Habshi are an ethnic group inhabiting India and Pakistan. They are primarily descended from the Bantu peoples of the Zanj coast in Southeast Africa and Ethiopia, most whom arrived t ...

, also known as Makrani. Sheedi are said to be the descendants of

Afro-Arab Afro-Arabs are Arabs of full or partial Black African descent. These include populations within mainly the Sudanese, Emiratis, Yemenis, Saudis, Omanis, Sahrawis, Mauritanians, Algerians, Egyptians and Moroccans, with considerably long est ...

s from

Zanzibar Zanzibar (; ; ) is an insular semi-autonomous province which united with Tanganyika in 1964 to form the United Republic of Tanzania. It is an archipelago in the Indian Ocean, off the coast of the mainland, and consists of many small islan ...

and maintain their distinct

and

Oman Oman ( ; ar, عُمَان ' ), officially the Sultanate of Oman ( ar, سلْطنةُ عُمان ), is an Arabian country located in southwestern Asia. It is situated on the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula, and spans the mouth of ...

i identity in the midst of the dominating South Asian cultures. Presently, these African-Pakistanis live in various parts of

. Most are found in

Lyari Lyari (Urdu: ; sd, لیاري) is a historic locality in Karachi, Pakistan. It is the most densely-populated part of Karachi, and is one of its earliest settled areas.Sarwat Viqar (2014) Constructing Lyari: place, governance and identity in a Kar ...

, but they are also found in

Malir Malir Town ( sd, ملير ٽائون, ur, ) lies in the northern part of the city that was named after the Malir River. History Administrative status 2000 The federal government under introduced local government reforms in the year 2 ...

, Moaach Goth, Manghopir, and further interior at Sindh and

Balochistan Balochistan ( ; bal, بلۏچستان; also romanised as Baluchistan and Baluchestan) is a historical region in Western and South Asia, located in the Iranian plateau's far southeast and bordering the Indian Plate and the Arabian Sea coastline. ...

. Due to Lyari's dominant Sheedi people population, it is often called 'Little Africa'. Some

style festivals and dances like Gowaati, Lewa,

Dhamaal ''Dhamaal'' () is a 2007 Indian Hindi-language comedy film directed by Indra Kumar and produced by Ashok Thakeria. The film stars Sanjay Dutt, Ritesh Deshmukh, Arshad Warsi, Aashish Chaudhary and Javed Jaffrey in the lead roles while Asrani, ...

, beating Omani style shindo, jabwah, and jasser drums are still popular in Manghopirs Lyari locale. Many forms of folk beliefs and medicines are also still practiced. A prominent

Urdu Urdu (;"Urdu"
'' Noon Meem Danish, proudly claims to be the great-great-grandchild of an African from

. "Now after centuries of cultural amalgamation, Sheedis proudly call themselves Baloch or Makrani."

References

External links

Karachi Website
{{coord, 24, 59, N, 67, 02, E, region:PK_type:city_source:GNS-enwiki, display=title Neighbourhoods of Karachi Gadap Town

Manghopir Lake

Sheedis and Festivals

See also

References

External links