Pakistanis in Thailand

Last updated
Pakistanis in Thailand
Total population
~250,000 (2020) [1]
Regions with significant populations
Bangkok  · Chiang Mai  · Chiang Rai  · Ayutthaya  · Saraburi  · Lopburi  · Hat Yai
Languages
Pashto  · Urdu  · Punjabi  · English  · Thai
Religion
Predominantly Islam
Minority Christianity, [2] Hinduism and Buddhism
Related ethnic groups
Overseas Pakistani

The history of Pakistanis in Thailand is based much before the independence when hundreds of people from regions of current-day Pakistan left for Thailand, then known as Siam. [3]

Contents

Most are concentrated in and around areas of Bangkok. Along with Indians, they are part of the much larger South Asian community in the country.

Occupations

The occupations of Pakistani expatriates vary from white-collar to blue-collar labour. Pakistanis form one of the larger communities of Muslims in Thailand.

There are several hundred Pakistani international students at the Asian Institute of Technology in Bangkok; [4] after Thai and Vietnamese students, they consist the third largest group in the university. [5] The movement of Pakistanis throughout the country is common; in 2018, as many as 84,981 Pakistanis visited Thailand. [6]

Organisations and politics

The Thai-Pakistani Friendship Association (TPFA), a government recognised body, based both in Thailand and in Pakistan, represents people of Pakistani origin, whether Thai or Pakistani nationals, throughout Thailand. [7]

In March 2010, Pakistanis living in Thailand protested a conference chaired in Bangkok allegedly focusing on the support of Baloch separatism, a conflict which has gripped one of Pakistani's western provinces. The meeting, known as the "Baloch Voice Foundation", provided a podium for foreign-based Baluch activists and separatists from Pakistan to speak on various agendas. The Thai government additionally came under criticism by the community for allowing such a forum to be held. [8]

There are currently four MPs and two senators in the Thai parliament who have ancestry from Pakistan. [9]

Crime

In 2010, there were about 102 Pakistanis in Thai jails; the prisoners could not be transferred back to Pakistan because of delay in paperwork by the government. Members of the Pakistani community in Thailand had promised to bear the expenses for the return of the prisoners to the country. [10]

It is alleged that there are various Pakistani passport-forging gangs based in Bangkok, some of whom have been cracked down before. According to Thai police, overseas Pakistanis with some of the best techniques in the trade use Thailand as a base for the business. [11] However, the Pakistani embassy in Bangkok has dismissed the claims, alluding the involvement of Indian, Burmese and Nepalese agents in the country.

The Pakistani community of Bangkok is briefly mentioned in the novel Fragrance Beyond Borders by Indian author Amarendra Naryan. The book focuses on the lives of Indians and Pakistanis in Thailand and the relations between the two countries in general. [12]

Notable people

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Islam in Thailand</span> Religion in Thailand

Islam is a minority faith in Thailand, with statistics suggesting 4.9% of the population are Muslim. Figures as high as 5% of Thailand's population have also been mentioned. A 2023 Pew Research Center survey gave 7%.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Insurgency in Balochistan</span> Separatist insurgency being waged against the governments of Iran and Pakistan

The Insurgency in Balochistan is an insurgency or revolt by Baloch nationalists and Islamist militants against the governments of Pakistan and Iran in the Balochistan region, which covers the Pakistani province of Balochistan, Iranian province of Sistan and Baluchestan Province in southeastern Iran, and the Balochistan region of southern Afghanistan. Rich in natural resources like natural gas, oil, coal, copper, sulphur, fluoride and gold, this is the largest, least populated and least developed province in Pakistan. Armed groups demand greater control of the province's natural resources and political autonomy. Baloch separatists have attacked civilians from other ethnicities throughout the province. In the 2010s, attacks against the Shia community by sectarian groups—though not always directly related to the political struggle—have risen, contributing to tensions in Balochistan. In Pakistan, the ethnic separatist insurgency is low-scale but ongoing mainly in southern Balochistan, as well as sectarian and religiously motivated militancy concentrated mainly in northern and central Balochistan.

Brahamdagh Khan Bugti or Brahumdagh Khan Bugti is the founder and leader of the Political Organisation Baloch Republican Party, a Baloch nationalist group which broke away from his uncle Talal Akbar Bugti's Jamhoori Watan Party in 2008. He is the grandson and tribal successor of Nawab Akbar Bugti, former chief minister and governor of the Balochistan province. He campaigns for the rights of Baloch people around Europe. As of 2018, he was living in self-imposed exile in Switzerland.

The Baloch Students Organization is a student organisation that campaigns for the students of Pakistan's Balochistan Province. It was founded as a student movement on 26 November 1967 in Karachi and remains the largest ethnic Baloch student body in the country. It got divided due to ideological differences. BSO Pajjar and BSO Mohiuddin are affiliated with the parliamentary framework of Pakistan. Dr Allah Nazar, founder of pro independence wing, in 2002 while he was studying in college, created a breakaway faction — BSO–Azad — that advocated struggle for an independent Balochistan based on pre-colonial Baloch country. The Pakistani government banned the BSO Azad on 15 March 2013, as a terrorist organisation.

Jumma Khan Marri is a senior Baloch political activist from Balochistan. He was formerly a member of Baloch separatist groups.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Australia–Thailand relations</span> Bilateral relations

Foreign relations exist between Australia and Thailand. Thailand is represented through its embassy in Canberra and a consulate general in Sydney. Australia has an embassy in Bangkok. Formal diplomatic relations were established between the two nations in 1952.

Pakistanis in Afghanistan are mostly refugees, but also include laborers, traders, businesspersons, and small number of diplomats. Those working in white-collar professions include doctors, engineers, teachers and journalists. Because Pakistan and Afghanistan are neighbouring states with a loosely controlled border, and a distributed population of ethnic Pashtuns and Baloch people, there is constant flow of population between the two countries.

There are or have been a number of separatist movements in Pakistan based on ethnic and regional nationalism, that have agitated for independence, and sometimes fighting the Pakistan state at various times during its history. As in many other countries, tension arises from the perception of minority/less powerful ethnic groups that other ethnicities dominate the politics and economics of the country to the detriment of those with less power and money. The government of Pakistan has attempted to subdue these separatist movements, which have included those in Bangladesh, the Baloch Liberation Front (BLF) in Balochistan; the "Sindhudesh" movement in Sindh province; "Balawaristan" in Gilgit-Baltistan; Jinnahpur and Muhajir Sooba movement for muhajir immigrants from India.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Immigration to Pakistan</span> Overview of immigration to Pakistan

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.

Pakistanis in the United Arab Emirates include expatriates from Pakistan who have settled in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), With a population of over 1.5 million, Pakistanis are the second largest national group in the UAE after Indians, constituting 12.5% of the country's total population. They are the third largest overseas Pakistani community, behind the Pakistani diaspora in Saudi Arabia and the United Kingdom. The population is diverse and consists of people from all over Pakistan, including Punjab, Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and FATA, Balochistan, Azad Kashmir and Gilgit Baltistan. The majority of Pakistanis are Muslim, with significant minorities of Christians, Hindus and other religions. The majority are found in Dubai and Abu Dhabi respectively, while a significant population is spread out in Sharjah and the remaining Northern Emirates. Dubai alone accounts for a Pakistani population of 400,000.

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.

Koreans in Thailand consist mainly of North Korean refugees and South Korean expatriates, along with a tiny number of South Korean immigrants who have naturalised as citizens of Thailand and their descendants. According to South Korea's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, in 2013 there were about 20,000 Koreans living in the country.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pakistanis in India</span> Widely-defined demographic of Pakistanis within India

Pakistanis in India primarily consist of Pakistani Hindus and Sikhs who seek permanent settlement in the Republic of India via Indian citizenship. However, by extension, this figure also includes ethnic Pakistanis who migrated to the Dominion of India from Pakistan following the Partition of India in 1947. Others include Muslim Pakistani nationals who desire Indian citizenship or seek to work in the Indian Republic as expatriates. In December 2015, Anglo–Pakistani singer Adnan Sami became a naturalized Indian citizen after living in India on an extended visitor visa since 2001. The state of Maharashtra has witnessed a six-fold increase in applications for Indian citizenship from Pakistani nationals following the relaxation and simplification of immigration rules in December 2017. The primary purpose of these applications was a result of cross-border marriages, which have resulted in spouses waiting for citizenship for close to a decade.

Indians in Pakistan typically refers to Indian nationals working, studying or generally residing in Pakistan as expatriates. It also includes Indian emigrants to Pakistan, Indian spouses married to Pakistanis and Muhajirs

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Crime in Thailand</span>

Crime in Thailand has been a defining issue in the country for decades, inspiring years of policy and international criticism. Drug use and corruption make up the majority of the crime in Thailand and due to this, many Thai administrations attempted to curtail the drug trade, most notably Thaksin Shinawatra with the 2003 War on Drugs. Since 2003 crime has been decreasing with the crime rate decreasing from 9.97 to 2.58. Despite this, juvenile delinquency has been increasing in recent years.

Pakistanis in Burma are a historical community living in Burma who trace their origins to Pakistan. This definition includes Pakistani nationals residing in Burma and Burmese citizens who have ancestral links to Pakistan. Their history predates the independence of Pakistan in 1947.

Rana Sanaullah Haq, also known as Sanaullah Ranjay, was a Pakistani national from Sialkot, Punjab who was serving a life term in a jail in India for his involvement in terror acts with the banned militant group Hizbul Mujahideen, as per the verdict by Indian courts. Before being incarcerated, he was reportedly involved in separatist activities and two bombing incidents in Indian-administered Kashmir. On 3 May 2013, he was attacked by a former Indian soldier Vinod Kumar, who had been convicted of murder. Reports of his attack came a day after the murder of an Indian prisoner Sarabjit Singh in Pakistani detention. Sanaullah died six days later due to the injuries sustained during the attack.

Baloch Americans are Americans of Baloch descent.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Qandeel Baloch</span> Pakistani model, actress, feminist activist and social media celebrity

Fouzia Azeem, known by her stage name Qandeel Baloch, was a Pakistani model, actress, social media celebrity and activist. She was the country's first social media celebrity. Azeem rose to prominence due to her videos on social networks discussing her daily routine, her rights as a Pakistani woman, and various controversial issues.

Kulbhushan Sudhir Jadhav is an Indian national. It is alleged by the Pakistani government that he was arrested in the Pakistani province of Balochistan on charges of terrorism and spying for India's intelligence agency, the Research and Analysis Wing. On 10 April 2017, Indian foreign ministry alleged he had been "kidnapped last year from Iran and his subsequent presence in Pakistan has never been explained credibly".

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Pakistanis celebrate heritage". Bangkok Post.
  2. Faruqi, Sama; Aqeel, Asif (26 February 2018). "Caste away: The ongoing struggle of Punjabi Christians". Dawn. Retrieved 30 September 2018.
  3. Cheema, Umar (12 July 2012). "Where expatriates who reach the top come from". The News. Retrieved 31 August 2015.
  4. "Pakistan reaches out to Buddhists: Bangkok Post". Bangkok Post.
  5. "Pakistani students graduate in Bangkok: Karachi Friends". Archived from the original on July 13, 2011.
  6. "จำนวนนักท่องเที่ยวชาวต่างชาติที่เข้ามาประเทศไทย จำแนกตามสัญชาติ พ.ศ. 2553 - 2562". Archived from the original on 2022-06-19. Retrieved 2021-03-08.
  7. "Home". thaipaki.com.
  8. Akhtar Jamal (March 3, 2010). "Bangkok bid to malign Pakistan". Pakistan Observer .[ permanent dead link ]
  9. Charuvastra, Teeranai; Chief, News (October 25, 2019). "Come Visit for Buddhism and Snow, Pakistani Amb. Invites Thai Tourists".{{cite web}}: |first2= has generic name (help)
  10. "102 Pakistanis in Thai jails - Dawn News".
  11. "Thais pursue Pakistani connection in fake passport business (Feature) - Monsters and Critics". Archived from the original on 29 January 2013. Retrieved 2 April 2020.
  12. "'Fragrance Beyond Borders' by Amarendra Narayan: MeriNews".