The ethnic groups in Karachi includes all the ethnic groups in Pakistan. Karachi's inhabitants, locally known as Karachiwala, are composed of ethno-linguistic groups from all parts of Pakistan, as well as migrants from South Asia, making the city's population a diverse melting pot. At the end of the 19th century, the population of the city was about 105,000, with a gradual increase over the next few decades, reaching more than 400,000 on the eve of independence. Estimates of the population range from 15 to 18 million, [1] [2] of which an estimated 30% are migrants from different backgrounds. The city's population is estimated to be growing at about 5% per year (mainly as a result of internal rural-urban migration), including an estimated 45,000 migrant workers coming to the city every month from different parts of Pakistan. [3]
Karachi is host to many Western expatriates in Pakistan. During the World War II, about 3,000 Polish refugees from Soviet Union evacuated to Karachi, by the British. Some of these Polish families settled permanently in the city. [4] [5] There are also communities of American [6] and British expatriates.
The independence of Pakistan in 1947 saw the settlement of Muslim refugees migrating from India. In Karachi, the Urdu speaking Muslims, now known as Karachiwala form the majority of the population. [7] The Muslim refugees lost all their land and properties in India when they fled and some were partly compensated by properties left by Hindus that migrated to India. The Muslim Kutchi people Gujaratis, Konkani, Hyderabadis, Marathi, Rajasthani, Punjabi fled India and settled in Karachi. There is also a sizable community of Malayali Muslims in Karachi (the Mappila), originally from Kerala in South India. [8] The non-Urdu speaking Muslim refugees from India now speak the Kutchi Language Urdu language and have assimilated and are considered as Karachiwala.[ citation needed ]
After the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971, thousands of Biharis and Bengalis from Bangladesh arrived in the city, and today Karachi is home to 1 to 2 million ethnic Bengalis from Bangladesh (see Bangladeshis in Pakistan), [9] [10] many of whom migrated in the 1980s and 1990s. They were followed by Rohingya Muslim refugees from western Burma (for more information, see Burmese people in Pakistan), [11] and Asian refugees from Uganda. One under-privileged sub-ethnic group is the Siddis (Africans – Sheedi) who are now naturalised Sindhi speakers. They are descended from African slaves. [12] Many other refugees from the Central Asian countries constituting the former Soviet Union have also settled in the city as economic migrants. A large numbers of Arabs, Filipinos and an economic elite of Sinhalese from Sri Lanka. [13] Expatriates from China have a history going back to the 1940s; today, many of the Chinese are second-generation children of immigrants who came to the city and worked as dentists, chefs and shoemakers. [13] [14]
The Pashtuns, originally from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Afghanistan, the Federally Administered Tribal Areas and northern Balochistan, are now the city's second largest ethnic group after Muhajirs, these Pashtuns are settled in Karachi from decades. [15] [16] [17] With as high as 7 million by some estimates, [15] the city of Karachi in Pakistan has the largest concentration of urban Pakhtun population in the world, including 50,000 registered Afghan refugees in the city, [18] [19] meaning there are more Pashtuns in Karachi than in any other city in the world. [20] As per current demographic ratio Pashtuns are about 25% of Karachi's population. [21] Some 2 Million Pashtuns are stated to be Urdu-speaking/Muhajirs.
Seraikis from southern Punjab have also settled in Karachi in large numbers.
According to the official census of the country, which was held in 2017, the linguistic distribution of the city was: Urdu: 21.30%; Punjabi: 08.03%; Pashto: 13.01%; Sindhi: 43.27%; Balochi: 12.00%; Saraiki: 1.77%; others: 2.03%. The others include Balti ,Dari, Gujarati, Dawoodi Bohra, Memon, Marwari, Brahui, Makrani, Khowar, Burushaski, Arabic, Farsi and Bengali. [22] [23]
According to the community leaders and social scientists there are over 1.6 million Bengalis and up to 400,000 Rohingyas living in Karachi. [24] The small ethno-linguistic groups settled in Karachi are being assimilated in the Urdu-speaking community. [25]
According to the census of 1998, the religious breakdown of the city was: Muslim (96.45%); Christian (2.42%); Hindu (0.86%); Ahmadiyya (0.17%); others (0.10%) (Parsis, Sikhs, Baháʼís, Jews and Buddhists). [26]
Rank | Language | 2017 census [27] | Speakers | 1998 census [28] | Speakers | 1981 census | Speakers |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Urdu | 21.30% | 6,998,530 | 48.52% | 4,497,747 | 54.34% | 2,830,098 |
2 | Punjabi | 8.03% | 1,119,636 | 13.94% | 1,292,335 | 13.64% | 710,389 |
3 | Pashto | 13.01% | 2,106,011 | 11.42% | 1,058,650 | 8.71% | 453,628 |
4 | Sindhi | 43.67% | 1,509,877 | 7.22% | 669,340 | 6.29% | 327,591 |
5 | Balochi | 12.04% | 648,664 | 4.34% | 402,386 | 4.39% | 228,636 |
6 | Saraiki | 1.77% | 798,011 | 2.12% | 195,681 | 0.35% | 18,228 |
7 | Others | 2.02% | 1,123,710 | 12.44% | 1,153,126 | 12.27% | 639,560 |
All | 100% | 16,024,894 | 100% | 9,269,265 | 100% | 5,208,132 |
Muhajirs are Muslim immigrants of various other ethnic groups and regional origins, and their descendants, who migrated from various regions of India after the Partition of India to settle in the newly independent state of Pakistan. The term Muhajirs refers to those Muslim migrants from India, mainly elites, who mostly settled in urban Sindh. The Muhajir community also includes stranded Pakistanis in Bangladesh who migrated to Pakistan after 1971 following the secession of East Pakistan in the Bangladesh Liberation War.
Karachi is the capital city of the Pakistani province of Sindh. It is the largest city in Pakistan and the 12th largest 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 and formerly served as the capital of Pakistan. Ranked as a beta-global city, it is Pakistan's premier industrial and financial centre, with an estimated GDP of over $200 billion (PPP) as of 2021. Karachi is a metropolitan city and is considered Pakistan's most cosmopolitan city, and among the country's most linguistically, ethnically-, and religiously-diverse regions, as well as one of the country's most progressive and socially liberal cities.
Orangi is a municipality approximately 57 square kilometres (22 sq mi) in an area that forms much of the northwestern part of Karachi in Sindh, Pakistan. It has often been considered of the world's largest slums. When grouped with the neighboring municipality of Baldia Town, the Orangi-Baldia population is estimated to be over 2.4 million.
Chakra Goth is a neighbourhood in the Korangi District in eastern Karachi, Pakistan. It was previously part of Korangi Town, which was an administrative unit that was disbanded in 2011.
The Burmee Colony is one of the neighbourhoods of Landhi Subdivisions in Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan.
Ranchore Line, officially named as Gazdarabad, is a neighbourhood in the Karachi South district of Karachi, Pakistan. The neighborhood is one of the oldest in Karachi, and has a predominantly Muslim Marwaris population who hailed from Jaisalmer in Rajasthan from 19th century. Gazadarabad is also home to Karachi's largest Hindu-dominated neighborhood, Narayan Pura.
Pashtun diaspora 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. 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, the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, Iran, Australia, Canada, and Russia.
Stranded Pakistanis in Bangladesh are Bihari Muslim migrants with homelands in present-day India who settled in East Pakistan following the partition of India in 1947.
Immigration to Pakistan is the legal entry and settlement of foreign nationals in Pakistan. Immigration policy is overseen by the Interior Minister of Pakistan through the Directorate General Passports. Most immigrants are not eligible for citizenship or permanent residency, unless they are married to a Pakistani citizen or a Commonwealth citizen who has invested a minimum of PKR 5 million in the local economy.
Bengalis in Pakistan are ethnic Bengali people who had lived in either West Pakistan or East Pakistan prior to 1971 or live in present-day Pakistan. Most Pakistani Bengalis, are bilingual speaking both Urdu and Bengali and are mainly settled in Karachi. Bengalis that arrived in Pakistan before 1971 have now assimilated with the Urdu-speaking people in Karachi.
Rohingya people in Pakistan are a community based in Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan. They are Rohingya Muslims, an ethnic group native to Rakhine State, Myanmar, who have fled their homeland because of the persecution of Muslims by the Burmese government and Buddhist majority. According to varied Pakistani government sources and the Arakan Historical Society, there are some 200,000 Rohingya refugees residing in Pakistan. All of them have made a perilous journey across Bangladesh and India and have settled in Karachi. A report on human trafficking stated that Burmese people make up fourteen per cent of Karachi's undocumented immigrants. Large scale Rohingya migration to Karachi made Karachi one of the largest population centres of Rohingyas in the world after Myanmar. In the recent years, scores of Burmese women seeking employment have entered the country. Different resources cite the number of these women to be in the thousands.
The cultural history of Karachi goes back at least five thousand years to the emergence of the Indus Valley Civilization in the third millennium BC. The early culture is mostly Neolithic with widespread usage of small cart implements and semi-precious stones. The many megalithic Arab graves around Karachi gave evidence towards megalithic movements of the Arabian Peninsula.
Pakistan is an ethnically and linguistically diverse country. The major Pakistani ethnolinguistic groups include Punjabis, Pashtuns, Sindhis, Gujjar, Saraikis, Muhajirs, Balochs, Paharis and Brahuis, with significant numbers of Baltis, Kashmiris, Chitralis, Shina, Kohistanis, Torwalis, Hazaras, Burusho, Wakhis, Kalash, Siddis, Uzbeks, Nuristanis, Pamiris, Hindkowans, Kyrgyz, Turkmen, Uyghurs and other various minorities.
Karachi is the largest and most populous city in Pakistan. The population of Karachi is estimated to be around 16 million (16,093,786) in 2020. The population and demographic distribution in the megacity has undergone numerous changes over the past 150 years. On 14 August 1947, when it became the capital city of Pakistan, its population was about 450,000 inhabitants However, the population rapidly grew with large influx of Muslim refugees after independence in 1947. By 1951, the city population had crossed one million mark. in the following decade, the rate of growth of Karachi was over 80 percent. Today, the city has grown 60 times its size in 1947 when it became the country's first capital. Although, Islamabad remains the nation's capital since the 1960s, the city's population continues to grow at about 5% per annum, largely thanks to its strong economic base.
The Muhajir people are Muslim immigrants of various ethnic groups and regional origins, and their descendants, who migrated from various regions of India after the Partition of India to settle in the newly independent state of Pakistan. The community includes those immigrants' descendants, most of whom are settled in Karachi and other parts of urban Sindh. The Muhajir community also includes stranded Pakistanis in Bangladesh who migrated to Pakistan after 1971 following the secession of East Pakistan in the Bangladesh Liberation War.
Targeted killings in Pakistan have been a rising form of violence and have contributed to security instability in the country. They have become common and have gained attention especially in Karachi, Pakistan's largest city, economic capital and capital city of the Sindh province. Several targeted killings have also occurred in Quetta, the capital of the southern province of Balochistan. Police and law enforcement agencies have sometimes come under criticism for their ineffectiveness in locating the perpetrators and investigating their motives. For most part, targeted killings in Karachi have been attributed to political, religious and ethnic reasons. There are speculations about the killing but no real proof has been found against any party.
The Qasba–Aligarh massacre was an ethnic massacre that took place when recently settled armed tribal Pashtuns from KPK, Pakistan and Afghanistan attacked densely populated civilized locals in Qasba Colony, Aligarh Colony and Sector 1-D of Orangi in Karachi in the early hours of the morning on 14 December 1986. According to official reports, around 49 people were killed and several hundred were injured in what was perceived as a "revenge killing" by newly settled armed Pashtuns following an unsuccessful raid on a Pashtun heroin processing and distribution center in Sohrab Goth by the security forces. Most of the residents of the two colonies happened to be Muhajirs like Biharis who had been freshly repatriated from Bangladesh.
Operation Lyari was a Pakistan Government crackdown against local gangs and other crime syndicates and part of the greater Karachi Operation.
Muhajir culture is the culture of the various Muslims of different ethnicities who migrated mainly from North India in 1947 generally to Karachi, the federal capital of Pakistan and before 1947 Karachi is the capital of Sindh. They consist of various ethnicities and linguistic groups. The Muhajirs are mainly concentrated in Karachi and Hyderabad.
Persecution of Muhajirs or Human rights abuses against Muhajirs or Anti-Muhajir sentiment ranges from discrimination, mass killings, forced disappearances and torture, to political repression and suppression of freedom of speech of Muhajirs, mainly those belonging to the right wing party Muttahida Qaumi Movement – Pakistan.
The Muhajir Province Movement is a proposed province movement in the Pakistani province of Sindh. This movement is backed by a Muhajir pan-nationalist political and ethnic movement seeking to establish a separate province in Sindh which seeks to represent the Muhajir people of Pakistan. It is proposed to consist of Muhajir-majority areas of Sindh which would be independent from Sindh government.