The Qalandar ( prs, قلندر) are a
tribe
The term tribe is used in many different contexts to refer to a category of human social group. The predominant worldwide usage of the term in English is in the discipline of anthropology. This definition is contested, in part due to confli ...
of
Hazara people
The Hazaras ( fa, , Həzārə; haz, , Āzərə) are an ethnic group and the principal component of the population of Afghanistan, native to, and primarily residing in the Hazaristan (Hazarajat) region in central Afghanistan and generally scatt ...
found in
Afghanistan
Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...
.
Background
In the reports of the Afghan Boundary Commission in 1891, Lieutenant-Colonel Maitland, a member of the mission in Afghanistan, identified the Qalandar as falling within a similar area as the
Jaghori Hazaras (
Ghazni Province
Ghazni (Dari: ) is one of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan, located in southeastern Afghanistan. The province contains 19 districts, encompassing over a thousand villages and roughly 1.3 million people, making it the 5th most populous province. Th ...
and the upper Arghandab Valley), but "not directly affiliated" and of different origin.
Origin
The Qalandar are believed to be late-19th-century refugees from
Day Chopan and
Arjestan.
Distribution
Most of the Qalandar are in
Quetta, Balochistan
Quetta (; ur, ; ; ps, کوټه) is the tenth most populous city in Pakistan with a population of over 1.1 million. It is situated in south-west of the country close to the International border with Afghanistan. It is the capital of th ...
.The tribe is divided into two areas: Alamdar Road and Hazara Town in Alamdar Road the head of the tribe is Babu Omid Ali (a government servant) and in Hazara town, the tribe leader is Haji Mullah Sammad (former government servant) now a local pipe shop owner.
See also
*
List of Hazara tribes
References
{{Hazara tribes
Tribes of Afghanistan
Hazara tribes