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Ethnic Groups In Pakistan
Pakistan is an ethnically and linguistically diverse country. The major Pakistani ethnolinguistic groups include Punjabis, Pashtuns, Sindhis, Saraikis, Muhajirs, Balochs, Hindkowans/ Hazarewals, Brahuis, and Kohistanis with significant numbers of Shina, Baltis, Kashmiris, Paharis, Chitralis, Torwalis, Hazaras, Burusho, Wakhis, Kalash, Siddis, Uzbeks, Nuristanis, Pamiris and various other smaller minorities. Refugees Pakistan's census does not include the 1.4 million citizens of Afghanistan who are temporarily residing in Pakistan. The majority of them were born in Pakistan within the last four decades and mostly belong to the Pashtun ethnic group. They also include Tajiks, Uzbeks and others. Major ethnic groups Punjabis Punjabis are an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group native to the Punjab region between India and Pakistan. They are the largest ethnic group of Pakistan. Punjabi Muslims are the third-largest Islam-adhering Muslim ethnicity in the world ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Balti People
The Baltis are a Tibetic ethnic group who are native to the Pakistani-administered territory of Gilgit−Baltistan and the Indian-administered territory of Ladakh, predominantly in the Kargil district with smaller concentrations present in the Leh district. Outside of the Kashmir region, Baltis are scattered throughout Pakistan, with the majority of the diaspora inhabiting prominent urban centres such as Lahore, Karachi, Islamabad and Rawalpindi. Origin The origin of the name ''Balti'' is unknown. The first written mention of the Balti people occurs in the 2nd century BCE by the Alexandrian astronomer and geographer Ptolemy, who refers to the region as ''Byaltae''. The Balti people themselves refer to their native land as ''Balti-yul'' (); the modern name of Baltistan is the Persian rendering of this name. Language The Balti language belongs to the Tibetic language family. Read (1934) considers it to be a dialect of Ladakhi, while Nicolas Tournadre (2005) instead ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Afghan Identity Card
The Afghan Tazkira (; ) is an official national identity document issued to every national and citizen of Afghanistan, including a member of the Afghan diaspora around the world. The document is used to obtain an electronic Afghan identity card (e-Tazkira), which is valid for up to 10 years and required for many things such as employment, registering in school, operating a business, buying or renting a house, opening a bank account, sending or receiving money through Western Union, purchasing a SIM card, obtaining a passport, booking airline tickets, staying in hotels, etc. The documents serve as proof of identity and residency but more importantly Afghan nationality. Both the Tazkira certificate and e-Tazkira are issued by the National Statistics and Information Authority (NSIA), which is headquartered in Kabul but has offices by the name of Asan Khedmat (Easy Services) in various provinces of Afghanistan. The Afghan Tazkira, which is older than 100 years, has been moder ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pamiris
The Pamiris are an Eastern Iranian ethnic group, native to Central Asia, living primarily in Tajikistan (Gorno-Badakhshan), Afghanistan ( Badakhshan), Pakistan (Gilgit-Baltistan & Chitral) and China (Taxkorgan Tajik Autonomous County). They speak a variety of different languages, amongst which languages of the Eastern Iranian Pamir language group stand out. The languages of the Shughni- Rushani group, alongside Wakhi, are the most widely spoken Pamiri languages. History Antiquity Eastern Iranian (mainly Saka (Scythian)), Tocharian, and probably Dardic tribes, as well as pre-Indo-European substrate populations took part in the formation of the Pamiris: in the 7th and 2nd centuries BC the Pamir Mountains were inhabited by tribes known in written sources as the Sakas. They were divided into different groupings and recorded with various names, such as ''Saka Tigraxauda'' ("Saka who wear pointed caps"), Saka Haumavarga ("''Saka who revere'' hauma"), ''Saka Tvaiy Pa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nuristanis
The Nuristanis are an Indo-Iranian ethnic group native to the Nuristan Province (formerly Kafiristan) of northeastern Afghanistan and Chitral District of northwestern Pakistan. Their languages comprise the Nuristani branch of Indo-Iranian languages. In the mid-1890s, after the establishment of the Durand Line when Afghanistan and the British Indian Empire reached an agreement regarding the Indo-Afghan border as the region of Kafiristan became part of the Great Game and for a period of time, Emir Abdur Rahman Khan conducted a military campaign to secure the eastern regions and followed up his conquest by imposition of Islam; the region thenceforth being known as ''Nuristan'', the "Land of Light". Before their conversion, the Nuristanis practised an Indo-Iranian (Vedic- or Hindu-like) religion. Non-Muslim religious practices endure in Nuristan today to some degree as folk customs. In their native rural areas, they are often farmers, herders, and dairymen. The Nuristan regio ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Uzbeks In Pakistan
The Uzbeks in Pakistan are a small community of ethnic Uzbeks who live in Pakistan. The Uzbeks were one of the first Karluk tribes to arrive in the modern-day region of Pakistan; they ruled the area of Pakhli (modern-day Hazara) for over 200 years from 1472 to 1703. Uzbeks form a significant minority group in the regions of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and FATA. There are many Uzbek immigrants in Pakistan from Central Asian countries, mainly Afghanistan and Uzbekistan. Around 2.3% of the Afghans residing in Pakistan are ethnic Uzbeks. The Afghan War drove them to Pakistan. In 1981, many Afghan Uzbek refugees in Pakistan moved to Turkey to join the existing communities based in Kayseri, İzmir, Ankara and Zeytinburnu. The Uzbeks can be found mainly in north-west Pakistan, comprising the areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (in particular Peshawar), Gilgit-Baltistan and Balochistan. Additionally, Uzbek militants allied to al-Qaeda from the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan and Islamic Jihad Union ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Siddi
The Siddi (), also known as the Sheedi, Sidi, or Siddhi, are an ethno-religious group living mostly in Pakistan. Some Siddis also live in India. They are primarily descended from the Bantu peoples of the Zanj coast in Southeast Africa, most of whom came to the Indian subcontinent through the Indian Ocean slave trade. Others arrived as merchants, sailors, indentured servitude, indentured servants, and mercenaries. Etymology There are conflicting hypotheses on the origin of the name ''Siddi''. One theory is that the word derives from ''sahibi'', an Arabic term of respect in North Africa, similar to the word ''sahib'' in modern India and Pakistan. A second theory is that the term ''Siddi'' is derived from the title borne by the captains of the Arab vessels that first brought Siddi settlers to India; these captains were known as ''Sayyid''. A different name occasionally used for the Siddi is the term "Habshi". While originally used to refer specifically to the Habesha peoples, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kalash People
The Kalash (), or Kalasha, are a small Indo-Aryan indigenous people residing in the Chitral District of the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. The term is also used to refer to several distinct Nuristani speaking people, including the Väi, the Čima-nišei, the Vântä, plus the Ashkun- and Tregami-speakers. According one Kalash-tradition, their ancestors migrated "some centuries ago" to Chitral Valley from the Waigal Valley, of Nuristan Province, Afghanistan, or a location further south, called "Tsiyam" in their folk songs and epics, and possibly located near Jalalabad and Lughman in Afghanistan. Another tradition claims descent from the armies of Alexander who were left behind from his armed campaign, though no evidence exists for him to have passed the area. During the Muslim rule in Chitral in the 14th century most of the Kalash gradually converted to Islam, except a small number of them who upheld their religion and customs, but they were restricted to t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wakhi People
The Wakhi people (, , ; ; ), also locally referred to as the Wokhik (), are an Iranian ethnic group native to Central and South Asia. They are found in Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Pakistan, and China—primarily situated in and around Afghanistan's Wakhan Corridor, the northernmost part of Pakistan's Gilgit−Baltistan and Chitral, Tajikistan's Gorno−Badakhshan Autonomous Region and the southwestern areas of China's Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. The Wakhi people are native speakers of the Wakhi language, an Eastern Iranian language. Name The Wakhi people refer to themselves as ''Khik'' and to their language as ''Khik zik''. The exonym ''Wakhī'', which is given to them by their neighbours, is based on ''Wux̌'', the local name of the region of Wakhan, deriving from *''Waxšu'', the old name of the Oxus River (Amu Darya), which is a major river formed by the junction of the Vakhsh and Panj rivers on the border between Tajikistan and Afghanistan. Demographics E ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Burusho People
The Burusho, or Brusho ( Burushaski: , ''burúśu''Hunzai, A. N. N., Burushaski Research Academy, & University of Karachi. (2006). Burushaski Urdu Dictionary - Volume 1 / بروشسکی اردو لغت - جلد اول (الف تا څ). Bureau of Composition, Compilation & Translation, University of Karachi. ISBN 969-404-66-Archive.org/ref>), also known as the Botraj, are an ethnolinguistic group indigenous to the Yasin, Hunza, Nagar, and other valleys of Gilgit–Baltistan in northern Pakistan, with a tiny minority of around 350 Burusho people residing in Jammu and Kashmir, India. Their language, Burushaski, has been classified as a language isolate. The region inhabited by the Burusho people is known as Brushal. History Although their origins are unknown, it is claimed that the Burusho people "were indigenous to northwestern India and were pushed higher into the mountains by the movements of the Indo-Aryans, who traveled southward sometime around 1800 B.C." Prior ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hazaras
The Hazaras (; ) are an ethnic group and a principal component of Afghanistan’s population. They are one of the largest ethnic groups in Afghanistan, primarily residing in the Hazaristan (Hazarajat) region in central Afghanistan. Hazaras also form significant minority communities in Pakistan, mainly in Quetta, and in Iran, primarily in Mashhad. They speak Dari and Hazaragi, dialects of Persian languages, Persian. Dari, also known as Dari Persian, is the Languages of Afghanistan, official language of Afghanistan. The Hazaras are one of the most Persecution of Hazaras, persecuted groups in Afghanistan. Between Hazara genocide, 1888 and 1893, more than half of the Hazara population was List of massacres against Hazaras, massacred under the Emirate of Afghanistan, and they have faced Persecution of Hazaras, persecution at various times over the past decades. Widespread ethnic discrimination, religious persecution, organized attacks by terrorist groups, harassment, and arbitrary ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Torwali People
The Torwali people are an Indo-Aryan peoples, Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group located in the Swat District, Swat district of Pakistan. The Torwali people have a culture that values the telling of folktales and music that is played using the sitar. They speak an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language called Torwali language, Torwali. Description The Torwalis inhabit the Swat River valley between Laikot (a little south of Kalam Valley, Kalam) down to and including the village of Bahrain, Pakistan, Bahrein (60 km north of Mingora). The Torwalis live in compact villages of up to 600 houses, mainly on the west bank of the Swat River. Fredrik Barth estimated that they constituted about 2000 households in all in 1956. All the Torwalis he met were bilingual, speaking Pashto and Torwali language, Torwali. History The Torwali people are believed to be among the earliest natives to the region of Swat District, Swat. The Torwali language is the closest modern Indo-Aryan langu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
