The Kashmiri diaspora refers to

Kashmiris Kashmiris are an Indo-Aryan peoples, Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group speaking the Kashmiri language, living mostly, but not exclusively, in the Kashmir Valley of Jammu and Kashmir (union territory), Jammu and Kashmir, India.(a) (subscriptio ...

who have migrated out of the

Kashmir Kashmir () is the northernmost geographical region of the Indian subcontinent. Until the mid-19th century, the term "Kashmir" denoted only the Kashmir Valley between the Great Himalayas and the Pir Panjal Range. Today, the term encompas ...

into other areas and countries, and their descendants.

India

Punjab

Estimated, 1,000-1,200 Kashmiri Hindus live in

Pathankot Pathankot is a city and the district headquarters of the Pathankot district in Punjab, India. Pathankot is the 6th most populous city of Punjab, after Ludhiana, Amritsar, Jalandhar, Patiala and Bathinda. Its local government is a municipal cor ...

Gurdaspur Gurdaspur is a city in the India, Indian state of Punjab, India, Punjab, between the rivers Beas River, Beas and Ravi River, Ravi. It houses the administrative headquarters of Gurdaspur District and is in the geographical centre of the distr ...

and Cities of

Doaba Doaba also known as Bist Doab, is the region of Punjab, India that lies between the Beas River and the Sutlej River. People of this region are given the demonym "Doabia". The dialect of Punjabi spoken in Doaba is called "Doabi". Th ...

region and of Punjab.

Gujarat

10,000 Kashmiri Hindus live in Gujarat. They settled here after 1990 exodus.

Himachal Pradesh

The state of Himachal Pradesh in India has the second-largest Kashmiri language speakers after Kashmir Valley and adjoining areas.

Kashmiri Pandit The Kashmiri Pandits (also known as Kashmiri Brahmins) are a group of Kashmiri Hindus and a part of the larger Saraswat Brahmin community of India. They belong to the Pancha Gauda Brahmin group from the Kashmir Valley, a mountainous region ...

s migrated to this region over centuries and a including from 1947–48 to 1989–91. Large number of Kashmiri Pandits also came here after the eruption of militancy in the valley .

Pakistan

Punjab

Heavy taxes under the

Sikh Sikhs ( or ; pa, ਸਿੱਖ, ' ) are people who adhere to Sikhism, Sikhism (Sikhi), a Monotheism, monotheistic religion that originated in the late 15th century in the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent, based on the revelation of Gu ...

rule, coupled with famine and starvation, caused many Kashmiri villagers to migrate to the plains of Punjab. These claims, made in Kashmiri histories, were corroborated by European travelers. When one such European traveler, Moorcroft, left the

Valley A valley is an elongated low area often running between Hill, hills or Mountain, mountains, which will typically contain a river or stream running from one end to the other. Most valleys are formed by erosion of the land surface by rivers ...

in 1823, about 500 emigrants accompanied him across the

Pir Panjal Pass The Pir Panjal Pass, also called Peer Ki Gali (or ''Peer Gali''), is a mountain pass and a tourist destination located in the Pir Panjal Range in Jammu and Kashmir. It connects the Kashmir Valley to the Rajouri and Poonch districts via the Mug ...

. The 1833 famine resulted in many people leaving the

Kashmir Valley The Kashmir Valley, also known as the ''Vale of Kashmir'', is an intermontane valley concentrated in the Kashmir Division of the Indian- union territory of Jammu and Kashmir. The valley is bounded on the southwest by the Pir Panjal Range and ...

and migrating to the

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 ...

, with the majority of weavers leaving Kashmir. Weavers settled down for generations in the cities of Punjab such as

Jammu Jammu is the winter capital of the Indian union territory of Jammu and Kashmir (union territory), Jammu and Kashmir. It is the headquarters and the largest city in Jammu district of the union territory. Lying on the banks of the river Tawi Ri ...

and Nurpur. The 1833 famine led to a large influx of Kashmiris into

Amritsar Amritsar (), historically also known as Rāmdāspur and colloquially as ''Ambarsar'', is the second largest city in the Indian state of Punjab, after Ludhiana. It is a major cultural, transportation and economic centre, located in the Majha r ...

. Kashmir's Muslims in particular suffered and had to leave Kashmir in large numbers, while Hindus were not much affected. Sikh rule in Kashmir ended in 1846 and was followed by the rule of

Dogra The Dogras or Dogra people, are an Indo-Aryan ethno-linguistic group in India and Pakistan consisting of the Dogri language speakers. They live predominantly in the Jammu region of Jammu and Kashmir, and in adjoining areas of Punjab, Himachal ...

Hindu maharajahs who ruled Kashmir as part of their princely state of Jammu and Kashmir. Many

Muslim Kashmiris Kashmiri Muslims are ethnic Kashmiris who practice Islam and are native to the Kashmir Valley in Indian-administered Kashmir. Quote: "Jammu and Kashmir: Territory in northwestern India, subject to a dispute between India and Pakistan. It has ...

migrated from the

to the

due to conditions in the princely state such as famine, extreme poverty and harsh treatment of Kashmiri Muslims by the

Hindu regime. The Punjab Census Report, in 1891, enumerated 111,775 Muslims born in Kashmir who settled in Punjab, which was also equivalent to the entire population of

Srinagar Srinagar (English: , ) is the largest city and the summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir, India. It lies in the Kashmir Valley on the banks of the Jhelum River, a tributary of the Indus, and Dal and Anchar lakes. The city is known for its natu ...

, back then standing at 118,960. According to the 1911 Census there were 177,549

Kashmiri Muslims Kashmiri Muslims are ethnic Kashmiris who practice Islam and are native to the Kashmir Valley in Indian-administered Kashmir. Quote: "Jammu and Kashmir: Territory in northwestern India, subject to a dispute between India and Pakistan. It has bo ...

in the Punjab. With the inclusion of Kashmiri settlements in NWFP this figure rose to 206,180. Scholar

Ayesha Jalal Ayesha Jalal ( Punjabi, ur, ) is a Pakistani-American historian who serves as the Mary Richardson Professor of History at Tufts University, and was the recipient of the 1998 MacArthur Foundation Fellowship. Family and early life Ayesha Jala ...

states that Kashmiris faced discrimination in the Punjab as well. Kashmiris settled for generations in the

were unable to own land, including the family of

Muhammad Iqbal Sir Muhammad Iqbal ( ur, ; 9 November 187721 April 1938), was a South Asian Muslim writer, philosopher, Quote: "In Persian, ... he published six volumes of mainly long poems between 1915 and 1936, ... more or less complete works on philoso ...

. Scholar Chitralekha Zutshi states that Kashmiri Muslims settled in the Punjab retained emotional and familial links to Kashmir and felt obliged to struggle for the freedom of their brethren in the

. According to the 1921 Census the total Kashmiri population in Punjab was 169,761. However, the Census report stated that only 3% of Kashmiris settled in

retained their

Kashmiri Kashmiri may refer to: * People or things related to the Kashmir Valley or the broader region of Kashmir * Kashmiris, an ethnic group native to the Kashmir Valley * Kashmiri language, their language People with the name * Kashmiri Saikia Baruah ...

language. The number of people speaking

in 1901 was 8,523 but had decreased to 7,190 in 1911. By 1921 the number of people speaking

in Punjab had fallen to 4,690. The 1921 Census report stated that this fact showed that the Kashmiris who had settled in Punjab had adopted the Punjabi language of their neighbours. In contrast, the 1881 Census of Punjab had shown that there were 49,534 speakers of the

Kashmiri language Kashmiri () or Koshur (, /kəːʃur/) is an Indo-Aryan language spoken by around 7 million Kashmiris of the Kashmir region, primarily in the Indian union territory of Jammu and Kashmir. In 2020, the Parliament of India passed a bill to make ...

in the Punjab. The 1881 Census had recorded the number of Kashmiris in the Punjab as 179,020 while the 1891 Census recorded the Kashmiri population as 225,307 but the number of Kashmiri speakers recorded in the 1891 Census was 28,415. Common ''krams'' (surnames) found amongst the Kashmiri Muslims who migrated from the

to the Punjab include Butt (Bhat), Dar (Dhar), Lun (Lone),

Wain A wagon or waggon is a heavy four-wheeled vehicle pulled by draught animals or on occasion by humans, used for transporting goods, commodities, agricultural materials, supplies and sometimes people. Wagons are immediately distinguished fro ...

(Wani), Mir and Shaikh. The 1881 Census of the Punjab recorded these major Kashmiri sub-divisions in the Punjab along with their population. The Butt (Bhat) tribe numbered 24,463, the Dar (Dhar) tribe numbered 16,215, the Lun (Lone) tribe numbered 4,848, the

(Wani) tribe numbered 7,419, the Mir sub-division numbered 19,855 and the Sheikhs numbered 14,902. Watorfield also noted the presence of the Butt (Bhatt) and Dar (Dhar) castes amongst the Kashmiris of the town of Gujrat in Punjab.

Azad Jammu and Kashmir

In 1961, there were 10,000 refugees of Kashmiri origin in Pakistan, who had voting rights in elections of

Azad Jammu and Kashmir Azad Jammu and Kashmir (; ), abbreviated as AJK and colloquially referred to as simply Azad Kashmir, is a region administered by Pakistan as a nominally self-governing entitySee: * * * and constituting the western portion of the larger Ka ...

. They were given an equal amount of representation in the election as the 109,000 Jammu refugees. In 1990, there were 400,000 refugee voters, compared to 1.2 million Azad Kashmir residents. The refugees continued to receive higher representation in the legislatures compared to the residents, Kashmiris being favoured more. This was justified on the grounds of showing "solidary with the Kashmiris in the Indian-administered Kashmir". Scholar

Christopher Snedden Christopher Snedden is an Australian political scientist and author. He has studied and published on the long-running Kashmir conflict between India and Pakistan. In his book, ''The Untold Story of the People of Azad Kashmir'' (2012), he proposed ...

remarks that the higher representation given to refugees endows opportunities to the central government of Pakistan to influence the election results. During the 1990s around 50,000 Kashmiris fled from Indian administered Kashmir to Pakistan, which as of 2010 had not granted citizenship to up to 40 per cent of the refugees. Ms Lucas suggests that the Pakistani government has been slow in providing citizenship to the refugees because doing so might nullify their right to self-determination.

Sindh

The city 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 cap ...

is home to a significant diaspora of

. According to the 2017 Pakistan Census, 63,784 people in Karachi reported Kashmiri as their mother tongue.

United Kingdom

There is a large Kashmiri community in the UK. Many of these individuals migrated to the United Kingdom in the 1960s to work as labourers after the construction of the Mangla Dam by the Pakistani government flooded agricultural fields. The majority of them adhere to the Barelvi movement of

Sunni Islam Sunni Islam () is the largest branch of Islam, followed by 85–90% of the world's Muslims. Its name comes from the word '' Sunnah'', referring to the tradition of Muhammad. The differences between Sunni and Shia Muslims arose from a disagre ...

. In the United Kingdom, the Kashmiri diaspora is present in the cities of

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

and

Bradford Bradford is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Bradford district in West Yorkshire, England. The city is in the Pennines' eastern foothills on the banks of the Bradford Beck. Bradford had a population of 349,561 at the 2011 ...

. The Kashmiri community in the UK predominantly speaks Pothwari, or Pahari.

Canada

In the 2016 Canadian census, approximately 3,000 people reported being of Kashmiri descent.

Singapore

A community of approximately 250 Kashmiri Pandits lives in Singapore.

Overseas organisations

Stand With Kashmir

Kashmir Civitas

Kashmir Global Council

Australian forum for Kashmir

Kashmiri Womens council

Daughters of Kashmir

Free Kashmir Organisation Germany

Friends of Kashmir Canada

Friends of Kashmir Dallas Texas USA

International Kashmir Peace Forum Spain

Jammu and Kashmir Council on Human Rights UK
* Jammu and Kashmir Overseas Community Saudi Arabia Indo-Canadian Kashmiri Forum
Jammu Kashmir Forum France

Jammu and Kashmir Human Rights Movement UK
* Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front London UK
The Jammu Kashmir Self Determination Movement International

Justice and Freedom Party

Justice For Kashmir Los Angeles

Justice Foundation UK

Kashmir American Welfare Association
* Kashmir awami Society Kuwait
Kashmir Awareness Forum of Canada
* Indo-European Kashmiri Forum * Kashmiri Overseas Organisations
Million Voices for Kashmiri Unity
These organisation are trying to preserve Kashmiri language and heritage by teaching youngsters their language, culture and history. Kashmiri Pandit Sabha is the biggest organisation of Kashmiri outside Kashmir, and they have a number of sister chapters across India.

References

External links

Kashmiri Overseas Association
{{Pakistani diaspora Indian diaspora

India

Punjab

Gujarat

Himachal Pradesh

Pakistan

Punjab

Azad Jammu and Kashmir

Sindh

United Kingdom

Canada

Singapore

Overseas organisations

See also

References

External links