Pashtun diaspora

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Not to be confused with Afghan diaspora.

Pashtun diaspora
Regions with significant populations
 United Arab Emirates578,315 (2021)[1]
 United States238,554 (2021) (Estimate)[2]
 India260,577 (2018); 10,808,000 million+(non-pashto speakers)[3]
 United Kingdom200,000 (2015)[4]
 Germany150,800 (2021)[5]
 Iran169,000 (2022)[6]
 Australia81,154 (2021)[7]
 Canada60,590 (2018)[8][verification needed]
 Russia19,800 (2015)[9]
 Malaysia5,500 (2008)[6]
 Thailand500,000(estimate)
 Turkey152,000(2021)
Languages
Pashto, Dari Persian, Hindko, Urdu-Hindi, English
Religion
Majority:
Sunni Islam
Minority:
Shia Islam, Hinduism,[10] Sikhism[11]

Pashtun diaspora (Pashto: بهر میشت پښتانه) comprises all ethnic Pashtuns. There are millions of Pashtuns who are living outside of their traditional homeland of Pashtunistan, a historic region that is today situated over parts of Afghanistan and Pakistan.[12] While the (erstwhile) Pashtunistan is home to the majority of Pashtun people, there are significant local Pashtun diaspora communities scattered across the neighbouring Pakistani provinces of Sindh and Punjab, particularly in their respective provincial capital cities of Karachi and Lahore. Additionally, people with Pashtun ancestry are also found across India; particularly in Rohilkhand, a region in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh; and in the Indian states of Gujarat and Rajasthan. Outside of South Asia, significant Pashtun diaspora communities are found in the Arab states of the Persian Gulf (primarily in the United Arab Emirates), the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, Iran, Australia, Canada, and Russia.

The Pashtun people, who are classified as an

Indic communities in the Indian subcontinent
, Pashtuns are commonly referred to by the word Pathan.

Native land

Pashtun people
of Afghanistan.

Afghanistan

Further information: Ethnic groups in Afghanistan and Afghan diaspora

The

Afghan population. Approximately 2 million Afghan refugees live in the neighboring Pakistan. The majority of them are Pashtuns who were born in that country.[18]

The Pashtuns are scattered all over Afghanistan, they can be found in almost every province of the country.[19] Kandahar is the second largest city in Afghanistan and a stronghold of the Pashtun culture. The city of Lashkargah in the south, Farah in the west, Jalalabad in the east, and Kunduz in the north are other prominent cultural centres whose populations are predominantly Pashtuns.

Pakistan

Further information:
Ethnic groups in Pakistan and Pakistani diaspora
See also:
Pashtuns in Balochistan
Ethnic Pashtuns in Pakistan and Afghanistan (including the southern borders of the former Soviet Union, the northeastern borders of Iran, and the northwestern borders of India disputed with Pakistan), in the early 1980s.
2017 Pakistan Census

Most

ethnic minorities in Pakistan, making up to 18% of the total population of Pakistan.[20][21] Pashtuns form the majority ethnic group in the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and northern Balochistan
.

With as many as 7 million by some estimates, the city of

Charsada, Mingora, Bannu, Parachinar, and Swabi. The province of Baluchistan is although named after the Baloch, but Pashtuns are the majority there and the Baloch population is in fact less than Pashtuns in the Balochistan province.[citation needed] However most of the land of Baluchistan is covered by Balochs and Brahuis
while Pashtuns are concentrated only in the north of the province.

Minority areas within Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

Pashtuns make up a minority of the total population of Hazara Division of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.[24] Pashtuns are mostly found In Battagram and Torghar District, Pashtun tribes speak Pashto language while Jadoons, Tareens and Dilazaks of Abbottabad & Haripur District speak Hindko language and sometimes Pashto as their second language. Pashtuns also make up a minority of the Chitral district, which is mainly inhibated by Kho and Kalasha people who speak Khowar.

The following table outlines the Pashtun population in different

provinces of Pakistan
:

Province
 Pashtuns
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa 30-32 million (as per 2017 population census of Pakistan)
Sindh Sindh 7 million[22]
Balochistan
 5.5 million [citation needed]
Punjab
 2.3 million [citation needed]
Azad Kashmir 350,000 [citation needed]
Islamabad Capital Territory 450,000 [citation needed]
Pakistan 56.7[20][21]

Smaller Pashtun communities outside Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan can be found in the districts of

Yousafzai, Shinwari and Afridi tribes, whose populations extend from Azad Kashmir to India's Jammu and Kashmir. They speak local languages.[citation needed
]

In addition to this, some

Muhajir community in Karachi
.

Notable people

Main article: List of Pashtuns

India

Part of a series on
Pashtuns
Empires and dynasties
Main article: Pathans in India
Further information:
Pathans of Kashmir, Rohilla, Pathans of Uttar Pradesh, Pathan of Bihar, Pathans of Gujarat, Pathans of Rajasthan, Pathans of Madhya Pradesh, and Pathans of Tamil Nadu
See also: Afghans in India

In India's Rohilkhand region, Pashtuns had made large settlements between 14th century and 20th century. In fact, according to the 1911 edition of Encyclopædia Britannica, the number of Pashtuns in the British India was nearly 3.5 million, but the speakers of Pashto numbered less than 1.25 million.[25] Most of this population were allotted, along with their respective provinces, to Pakistan after the partition of India, in 1947.[citation needed] Today, the Pashtuns in India can be divided into those who speak Pashto and those who speak Urdu/Hindi and other regional languages. However, the Pashtuns speaking Urdu/Hindi are in majority the.[26] Khan Mohammad Atif, a professor at the University of Lucknow, estimates that "The population of Pathans in India is twice their population in Afghanistan".[27]

Pathans (Pashtuns) In Oudh State, India

Pashto-speaking communities

There are many Pashto-speaking Pakhtuns in the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir.[28] Although their exact numbers are hard to determine, they are at least more than 100,000, for it is known that in 1954, over 100,000 nomadic Pakhtuns living in Kashmir Valley were granted Indian citizenship.

Kupwara District.[32] In response to demand by the Pashtun community living in the state, Kashir TV has recently launched a series of Pushto-language programs.[33]

A further small, scattered Pashtun population still exists in some major cities of India with large Muslim populations, with the majority of

Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan.[37]

A small Hindu community, known as the

Sheen Khalai meaning 'blue skinned' (referring to the color of Pashtun women's facial tattoos), migrated to Unniara, Rajasthan, India after partition.[38] Prior to 1947, the community resided in the Quetta, Loralai and Maikhter regions of the British Indian province of Baluchistan.[38] Today, they continue to speak Pashto and celebrate Pashtun culture through the Attan dance.[38]

Urdu and Hindi speaking communities

The larger number of people claiming Pashtun ancestry in India are Urdu speaking. Despite the loss of most of the Raj-era Pashtun population, India still has a community of Hindustani speakers who can trace some of their ancestry to ancient Pashtun settlers. They are often referred by the Hindustani pronunciation of the word Pashtun, "Pathan".

Major Indian Pathan tribes lived in the following areas. While many persons belonging to these tribes moved to the Afghan-Pakistan border, others chose to stay and thus, descendants of these tribes still reside in the parts of India listed below:

Kolkota.[40]

Pashtuns in the Middle East

UAE

Hundreds of thousands of Pashtuns serving as migrant workers reside in the Middle East, particularly in the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Oman and other Arab countries.[41] Many of them are involved in the transport business, while others are employees of construction companies.

There were over 100,000 Pashtuns living in

Khorasan Province of Iran.[6] The settling of Pashtuns in Iran goes back to the 18th century during the Durrani reign. Timur Shah Durrani, an ethnic Pashtun, the son of Ahmad Shah Durrani and King of Afghanistan, was born in Mashhad, in the Khorasan province of Iran, which was part of the Durrani empire at that time.[42]

About 300,000 Pashtuns migrated to the Persian Gulf countries between 1976 and 1981, representing 35% of Pakistani immigrants.[41]

Pashtuns in Europe

Further information: Afghan diaspora and Pakistani diaspora

Many Pashtuns have migrated from their homeland in South/Central Asia to Europe.[citation needed]

United Kingdom

Main article: British Pashtuns
Further information:
British Pakistani

The United Kingdom is home to some 100,000 Pashtuns,[43] making it one of the most populous overseas Pashtun communities in the world and the most populous one in the West. Pashtun diaspora in UK have made their presence felt through their restaurants with traditional names like Bab-eKhyber, Hujra, Kabuli pulao etc. and Music. Its one of the most vibrant Pashtun diaspora in the west.[44]

Pashtuns in other parts of the world

United States

Main article:
Pashtun American
Further information:
Pakistani American
Pashtuns in the US by state

Pashtuns have been present in

USA in large numbers and are well established there. Pashtuns in the United States are famous for running top Afghan cuisine restaurants[45][46][47] and as owners of the fast-food restaurant chain Kennedy Fried Chicken that is based in New York City
.

Canada

Further information:
Pakistani Canadian

1,690 persons characterized their ethnicity as "Pashtun" in Canada's 2006 census.[48] However, in question 17 of Canada's Statcan census form[49] most Pashtuns don't put their ethnicity as Pashtuns but rather Afghan or Pakistani.

Australia

Further information:
Afghan (Australia), Afghan Australians, Indian Australians, and Pakistani Australians

In the latter part of the 19th century several thousand men from Afghanistan, Baluchistan, Kashmir, Sind, Rajasthan, Egypt, Persia, Turkey and Punjab, but collectively known as "Afghans", were recruited during the initial British development of the

Ghans.[51] During the 1980s and 90s, Pashtuns began settling in Perth, Melbourne, Sydney
and other major cities of Australia.

Bangladesh and Sri Lanka

Further information:
Pathans of Sri Lanka and Stranded Pakistanis in Bangladesh

Pashtuns in

Pathans who settled in Batticaloa, initially arriving for trade.[53]

Southeast Asia

Further information:
Indian Indonesian

Since the early 1900s there have been many generations of Pashtuns who migrated from Afghanistan and the tribal areas of Pakistan (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa). Pashtun settlements in

Indian ethnic minority community while those recent migrants or settlers belong to the Pakistani diaspora, since most of the migrants came from Pakistan
.

East Asia

There may be some Pashtun communities living in parts of China, Taiwan and Japan.

Guyana and Suriname

Main articles:
Pakistanis in the Caribbean

Some people living in Guyana and Suriname claim to be of Afghan descent. Most of them moved to South American countries during the Indian immigration.[54]

Latin America

Many Pashtuns from Afghanistan came to Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Panama, Colombia, Paraguay and Peru as refugees during the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1981 and during the internal Afghan conflicts in 1995–1996.

See also

References

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  2. Pakistani-Americans
    = 54,554. Total Afghan and Pakistani Pashtuns in USA = 238,554.
  3. ^ Ali, Arshad (15 February 2018). "Khan Abdul Gaffar Khan's great granddaughter seeks citizenship for 'Phastoons' in India". Daily News and Analysis. Retrieved 21 February 2019. Interacting with mediapersons on Wednesday, Yasmin, the president of All India Pakhtoon Jirga-e-Hind, said that there were 32 lakh Phastoons in the country who were living and working in India's Delhi but were yet to get citizenship.
  4. ^ Maclean, William (10 June 2009). "Support for Taliban dives among British Pashtuns". Reuters. Retrieved 6 August 2009.
  5. ^ Relations between Afghanistan and Germany Archived 16 January 2017 at the Wayback Machine: Germany is now home to almost 90,000 people of Afghan origin. 42% of 90,000 = 37,800
  6. ^ a b c "Ethnologue report for Southern Pashto: Iran (2022)". Ethnologue: Languages of the World. Retrieved 5 October 2023.
  7. ^ "20680-Ancestry (full classification list) by Sex – Australia" (Microsoft Excel download). 2006 Census. Australian Bureau of Statistics. Retrieved 2 June 2008. Total responses: 25,451,383 for total count of persons: 19,855,288.
  8. ^ "Census Profile, 2016 Census - Canada [Country] and Canada [Country]". 8 February 2017.
  9. ^ "Perepis.ru". perepis2002.ru (in Russian).
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  11. ^ "the-sikhs-of-peshawar-explained-7923180". Al Jazeera. Retrieved 15 February 2024.
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  13. ^ "Afghan and Afghanistan". Abdul Hai Habibi. alamahabibi.com. 1969. Retrieved 24 October 2010.
  14. ^ Muhammad Qasim Hindu Shah (Firishta). "History of the Mohamedan Power in India". Persian Literature in Translation. Packard Humanities Institute. Archived from the original on 11 February 2009. Retrieved 10 January 2007.
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  17. ^ See:
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  19. ^ "District Development Plans (DDP)". Government of Afghanistan and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development. Retrieved 28 November 2012.
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  21. ^ a b "Pakistan Index: Tracking Variables of Reconstruction & Security" (PDF). Brookings Institution. 29 December 2011. p. 13. Archived from the original (PDF) on 27 March 2010. Retrieved 25 January 2012.
  22. ^
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  23. ^ "In a city of ethnic friction, more tinder". The National. 24 August 2009. Archived from the original on 16 January 2010. Retrieved 24 August 2010.
  24. ^ "District Abbottabad". Local Government, Elections and Rural Development Department. Retrieved 12 December 2023.
  25. ^ Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Pathan" . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 20 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 913.
  26. ^ Alvi, Shams-ur-Rehman (11 December 2008). "Indian Pathans to broker peace in Afghanistan". Hindustan Times. Archived from the original on 5 November 2013. Retrieved 3 May 2015.
  27. ^ Alavi, Shams Ur Rehman (11 December 2008). "Indian Pathans to broker peace in Afghanistan". Hinudstan Times.
  28. ^ "Special focus on Gujjars, Paharis: CM". Daily Excelsior. Retrieved 22 August 2009.[permanent dead link]
  29. ^ "Pakhtoons in Kashmir". The Hindu. Chennai, India. 20 July 1954. Archived from the original on 9 December 2004. Retrieved 22 August 2009.
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  38. ^ a b c Haider, Suhasini (3 February 2018). "Tattooed 'blue-skinned' Hindu Pushtuns look back at their roots". The Hindu. Retrieved 24 March 2018.
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  45. ^ Helmand – Baltimore, Maryland
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Bibliography

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