Pakistanis in Spain form one of the country's smaller migrant communities. Their numbers began to grow rapidly in the early 2000s.
Migration history
Pakistanis began settling in
Spain
, image_flag = Bandera de España.svg
, image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg
, national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond")
, national_anthem = (English: "Royal March")
, i ...
, mainly in the city center of
Barcelona
Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...
, as early as the 1970s, and most Pakistanis in Spain still reside there However, it took until November 2006 for the Pakistani government to approve plans to open a consulate there. They primarily trace their origins to the province of
Punjab
Punjab (; Punjabi: پنجاب ; ਪੰਜਾਬ ; ; also romanised as ''Panjāb'' or ''Panj-Āb'') is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising a ...
. Migrants largely consist of men; according to Spain's
Instituto Nacional de Estadística (INE), only 13% are women.
There are various conflicting data regarding the size of their community. 2004 figures from Pakistan's Ministry of Labour, Manpower, and Overseas Pakistanis show just 2,000 Pakistanis in Spain, which would make them the 15th-largest Pakistani community in Europe, or just 0.2% of the total number of Pakistanis in Europe.
In contrast, the INE gave a figure for the year 2009 of more than twenty-six times that, 53,691, which represented growth of 27.5% over the 2007 figure of 42,105.
Finally, some media reports around 2007 and 2008 give a figure of 70,000.
Employment
Common areas of employment among the Pakistanis in Barcelona include in agriculture, as skilled tradespersons such as mechanics, carpenters, or welders, and in construction. A small proportion are engaged in the liberal professions, mainly medicine, law, and engineering. About four-tenths also run their own businesses. Grocery stores, butchers' shops, clothing stores, mobile phone shops, and discount shops are some of the more common types of businesses.
The first
halal
''Halal'' (; ar, حلال, ) is an Arabic word that translates to "permissible" in English. In the Quran, the word ''halal'' is contrasted with '' haram'' (forbidden). This binary opposition was elaborated into a more complex classification k ...
butcher's shop in Barcelona was opened in 1983 by a Pakistani businessman. About half
remit money to their families in Pakistan.
Language
Punjabi is the most common
first language
A first language, native tongue, native language, mother tongue or L1 is the first language or dialect that a person has been exposed to from birth or within the critical period. In some countries, the term ''native language'' or ''mother tongu ...
among Pakistanis in Spain, reported by 63.6% of one survey group in Barcelona. The
national language
A national language is a language (or language variant, e.g. dialect) that has some connection—de facto or de jure—with a nation. There is little consistency in the use of this term. One or more languages spoken as first languages in the te ...
is also widely spoken, but very few have it as their first language. In the same survey, 95.4% stated that they could speak at least some
Spanish
Spanish might refer to:
* Items from or related to Spain:
**Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain
**Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries
**Spanish cuisine
Other places
* Spanish, Ontario, Can ...
, and 54.6% could also speak
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
; 12.9% also claimed some knowledge of
Catalan
Catalan may refer to:
Catalonia
From, or related to Catalonia:
* Catalan language, a Romance language
* Catalans, an ethnic group formed by the people from, or with origins in, Northern or southern Catalonia
Places
* 13178 Catalan, asteroid #1 ...
, the language spoken in Barcelona where much of the Pakistani population in Spain lives.
Religion
Islam is by far the most common religion among Pakistanis in Spain, and serves as an important marker of community belonging. In Solé Aubia and Rodríguez Roca's 2005 study, every single one of their 280 interviewees stated that he or she was a Muslim; of them, 82.5% indicated that they continued to practise Islam properly, while 13.2% claimed that they would like to practise it properly but were prevented by various constraints, and just 2.9% did not practise the religion because they did not want to.
In Barcelona, the two mosques most frequented by Pakistanis are the Tariq ben Zyad Mosque and the Minhaj ul-Quran Mosque. The Tariq ben Zyad Mosque, on the ''calle Elisabets'', was founded in 1981. It is named for
Tariq ibn Ziyad
Ṭāriq ibn Ziyād ( ar, طارق بن زياد), also known simply as Tarik in English, was a Berber commander who served the Umayyad Caliphate and initiated the Muslim Umayyad conquest of Visigothic Hispania (present-day Spain and Portugal) ...
, the general who led the
Muslim conquest of Spain
The Umayyad conquest of Hispania, also known as the Umayyad conquest of the Visigothic Kingdom, was the initial expansion of the Umayyad Caliphate over Hispania (in the Iberian Peninsula) from 711 to 718. The conquest resulted in the decline of t ...
beginning in 711, and belongs to the
Tablighi Jamaat
Tablighi Jamaat (, also translated as "propagation party" or "preaching party")
is a transnational Deobandi Islamic Dawah, missionary movement
that focuses on exhorting Muslims to be more religiously observant
and encouraging fellow memb ...
movement. The Minhaj ul-Quran Mosque, founded in 1997, is, as its name indicates, part of the
Minhaj-ul-Quran International
Minhaj-ul-Quran International ( ur, ) (or MQI) is an international non-governmental organization (NGO) founded by Shaykh-ul-Islam Muhammad Tahir-ul-Qadri
Muhammad Tahir-ul-Qadri ( ur, ; born 19 February 1951) is a Pakistani–Canad ...
movement.
Community relations
The presence of Pakistanis in Spain was not much noted by mainstream society until late in the year 2000. That year, the government passed amnesty laws which would enable foreigners residing in Spain illegally to regularise their status; however, as a result of being unable to meet the requirements, a group of about a hundred, among them many Pakistanis, barricaded themselves in two churches in Barcelona and declared a hunger strike, which would last from 20 January to 8 March 2000 and would attract an additional seven hundred protestors during that time. Due to the limited knowledge of
Spanish
Spanish might refer to:
* Items from or related to Spain:
**Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain
**Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries
**Spanish cuisine
Other places
* Spanish, Ontario, Can ...
and
Catalan
Catalan may refer to:
Catalonia
From, or related to Catalonia:
* Catalan language, a Romance language
* Catalans, an ethnic group formed by the people from, or with origins in, Northern or southern Catalonia
Places
* 13178 Catalan, asteroid #1 ...
languages among them, most Pakistanis do not have many personal relationships with Spaniards; in Barcelona, only 28.2% stated that they knew any Spaniards personally. There are few bloggers who translate the Spanish news in Urdu language and publish in there blog for the guidance of Urdu community in Spain. Nowadays Pakistani community is taking part in political activities in mainstream political parties.
Few Pakistanis have intermarried with local people and have children in Barcelona.
Migration Movements between Pakistan and South Western Europe:Pakistani migratory networks in Catalonia
/ref>
See also
* Pakistan–Spain relations
*Spain national cricket team
The Spanish national cricket team is the team that represents Spain in international cricket. They became an affiliate member of the International Cricket Council (ICC) in 1992 and an associate member in 2017. They made their international debut ...
, many of whose players are of Pakistani origin.
Notes
Bibliography
*
*
*
*
*
Further reading
*
External links
Pakistanis in Spain
report by Grace Jackson of Current TV
Current TV was an American television channel which broadcast from August 1, 2005, to August 20, 2013. Prior INdTV founders Al Gore and Joel Hyatt, with Ronald Burkle, each held a sizable stake in Current TV. Comcast and DirecTV each held a smalle ...
"Pakcelona" Pakistanis in Barcelona
report by Current TV
Current TV was an American television channel which broadcast from August 1, 2005, to August 20, 2013. Prior INdTV founders Al Gore and Joel Hyatt, with Ronald Burkle, each held a sizable stake in Current TV. Comcast and DirecTV each held a smalle ...
Happy hours: Beer selling in Barcelona - the Pakistani way
report by The Express Tribune
''The Express Tribune'' is a daily English language, English-language newspaper based in Pakistan. It is the flagship publication of the ''Daily Express (Urdu newspaper), Daily Express'' media group. It is Pakistan's only internationally affiliat ...
{{Portal bar, Pakistan, Spain
Ethnic groups in Spain
Islam in Spain
Muslim communities in Europe
Asian diaspora in Spain