Uzbeks in Pakistan

Last updated
Uzbeks
اۉزبېکلر
O‘zbeklar
Total population
c. 279,000[ citation needed ]
Regions with significant populations
Languages
Religion
Islam
Related ethnic groups

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. [2]

Contents

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. [3] The Afghan War drove them to Pakistan. [4] In 1981, many Afghan Uzbek refugees in Pakistan moved to Turkey to join the existing communities based in Kayseri, İzmir, Ankara and Zeytinburnu. [5] 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 are believed to reside in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas. Their number at their height was predicted to be anywhere from 500 to 5,000. [6] Now, only a few hundred foreign militants of various nationalities are thought to remain in Pakistan [7] – the majority either having been killed by the Pakistani military's Zarb-e-Azb operation launched in 2014 or shifting to other theaters of jihadist conflicts, such as Syria.[ citation needed ]

History

Timurid Empire

Map of the Timurid Empire at its greatest extent under Timur Timur Empire.jpg
Map of the Timurid Empire at its greatest extent under Timur

The empire was founded by Timur (also known as Tamerlane) who was born in modern-day Uzbekistan, a warlord of Turco-Mongol lineage, who established the empire between 1370 and his death in 1405. The Timurid empire included many parts of modern-day Pakistan, such as Punjab, Balochistan, Khyber Pakthunkhwa, Gilgit-Baltistan and Kashmir and left a lasting impact to this region culturally and ethnically. He envisioned himself as the great restorer of the Mongol Empire of Genghis Khan, regarded himself as Genghis's heir, and associated closely with the Borjigin. Timur continued vigorous trade relations with Ming China and the Golden Horde, with Chinese diplomats like Ma Huan and Chen Cheng regularly traveling west to Samarkand to buy and sell goods. The empire led to the Timurid Renaissance, particularly during the reign of astronomer and mathematician Ulugh Begh.

By 1467, the ruling Timurid dynasty, or Timurids, had lost most of Persia to the Aq Qoyunlu confederation. However, members of the Timurid dynasty continued to rule smaller states, sometimes known as Timurid emirates, in Central Asia and parts of India. In the 16th century, Babur, a Timurid prince from Ferghana (modern Uzbekistan), invaded Kabulistan (modern Afghanistan) and established a small kingdom there. Twenty years later, he used this kingdom as a staging ground to invade the Delhi Sultanate in India and establish the Mughal Empire.

Mughal Empire

The empire at its greatest extent in c. 1700 under Aurangzeb (r. 1658-1707) Joppen1907India1700a.jpg
The empire at its greatest extent in c. 1700 under Aurangzeb (r. 1658–1707)

The Mughal empire is conventionally said to have been founded in 1526 by Babur, a warrior chieftain from what is today Uzbekistan, who employed aid from the neighboring Safavid and Ottoman empires, [8] to defeat the Sultan of Delhi, Ibrahim Lodi, in the First Battle of Panipat, much of what is modern day Pakistan was under the Mughal empire, until its collapse. The Mughal imperial structure, however, is sometimes dated to 1600, to the rule of Babur's grandson, Akbar. [9] This imperial structure lasted until 1720, shortly after the death of the last major emperor, Aurangzeb, [10] [11] during whose reign the empire also achieved its maximum geographical extent. Reduced subsequently to the region in and around Old Delhi by 1760, the empire was formally dissolved by the British Raj after the Indian Rebellion of 1857.

The remnants of the empire in 1751 1751 map of India from "Historical Atlas of India", by Charles Joppen.jpg
The remnants of the empire in 1751

The Mughal designation for their own dynasty was Gurkani (Persian : گورکانیان, romanized: Gūrkāniyān, lit.  'sons-in-law'). [12] The use of "Mughal" and "Moghul" derived from the Arabic and Persian corruption of "Mongol", and it emphasised the Mongol origins of the Timurid dynasty. [13] The term gained currency during the 19th century, but remains disputed by Indologists. [14] Similar transliterations had been used to refer to the empire, including "Mogul" and "Moghul". [15] [16] Nevertheless, Babur's ancestors were sharply distinguished from the classical Mongols insofar as they were oriented towards Persian rather than Turco-Mongol culture. The Mughals themselves claimed ultimate descent from Mongol Empire founder Genghis Khan. [17]

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ Also known as Lashkari (لشکری) [1]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Babur</span> Mughal emperor from 1526 to 1530

Babur was the founder of the Mughal Empire in the Indian subcontinent. He was a descendant of Timur and Genghis Khan through his father and mother respectively. He was also given the posthumous name of Firdaws Makani.

The Barlas were a Mongol and later Turkicized nomadic confederation in Central Asia. With military roots in one of the regiments of the original Mongol army, the Barlas spawned two major imperial dynasties in Asia: the Timurid Empire in Central Asia and Persia; and its later branch, the Mughal Empire in the Indian subcontinent.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Timurid dynasty</span> Turco-Mongol dynasty (1370–1857)

The Timurid dynasty, self-designated as Gurkani, was a Sunni Muslim dynasty or Barlās clan of Turco-Mongol origin descended from the warlord Timur. The word "Gurkani" derives from "Gurkan", a Persianized form of the Mongolian word "Kuragan" meaning "son-in-law". This was an honorific title used by the dynasty as the Timurids were in-laws of the line of Genghis Khan, founder of the Mongol Empire, as Timur had married Saray Mulk Khanum, a direct descendant of Genghis Khan. Members of the Timurid dynasty signaled the Timurid Renaissance, and they were strongly influenced by Persian culture and established two significant empires in history, the Timurid Empire (1370–1507) based in Persia and Central Asia, and the Mughal Empire (1526–1857) based in the Indian subcontinent.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Timurid Empire</span> Central Asian Persianate Turco-Mongol empire (1370–1507)

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bangash</span> Pashtun tribe

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mughal dynasty</span> Dynasty of the Mughal Empire

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Moghulistan, also called the Moghul Khanate or the Eastern Chagatai Khanate, was a Mongol breakaway khanate of the Chagatai Khanate and a historical geographic area north of the Tengri Tagh mountain range, on the border of Central Asia and East Asia. That area today includes parts of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and northwest Xinjiang, China. The khanate nominally ruled over the area from the mid-14th century until the late 17th century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mughal people</span> Group of clans of North India and Pakistan

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Mirza Muhammad Haidar Dughlat Beg was a Chagatai Turco-Mongol military general, governor of Kashmir, and a historian. He was a Mughal Dughlat prince who wrote in both Chaghatai and Persian languages. Haidar and Babur were cousins on their mother's side, through the line of Genghis Khan. Unlike Babur, Haidar considered himself more of an ethnic Mongol of Moghulistan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dughlats</span>

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mughal Empire</span> 1526–1857 empire in South Asia

The Mughal Empire was an early modern empire in South Asia. At its peak, the empire stretched from the outer fringes of the Indus River Basin in the west, northern Afghanistan in the northwest, and Kashmir in the north, to the highlands of present-day Assam and Bangladesh in the east, and the uplands of the Deccan Plateau in South India.

The rulers of the Mughal Empire shared certain genealogical relations with the Mongol royals. As they emerged in a time when this distinction had become less common, the Mughals identification as such has stuck and they have become known as one of the last Mongol successor states. As descendants of Timur, they are also members of the Timurid dynasty, and therefore were connected to other royal families in the Mediterranean, Middle East, and Far East. As such, the Mughal Empire was descended from two powerful dynasties.

Persian people were one of the major ethnic groups, who accompanied the ethnic Turco-Mongol ruling elite of the Mughal Empire after its invasion of the Indian subcontinent. Throughout the Mughal Empire, a number of ethnic Persian technocrats, bureaucrats, traders, scientists, architects, teachers, poets, artists, theologians and Sufis migrated and settled in different parts of the Indian Subcontinent.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of Akhsi</span> Part of Timurid Civil Wars

In the early 16th century, Sultan Mahmud Khan, the Chagatai Khan of Western Moghulistan, and Sultan Ahmad Alaq Khan, the Chagatai Khan of Eastern Moghulistan, decided to counter the growing power of the Uzbeks under Muhammad Shaybani. Sultan Ahmed Tambol had rebelled against his Timurid master Babur and declared his independence. But when Babur tried to reconquer his territory with the help of his uncles, Ahmed Tambol sought the assistance of the Uzbeks. The two Moghul brothers united their forces and launched a campaign against Tambol, but Muhammad Shaybani surprised the Khans and proved victorious in battle of Akhsi and took them both prisoner.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Khanzada Begum</span> Elder sister of Emperor Babur

Khanzada Begum was a Timurid princess and the eldest daughter of Umar Shaikh Mirza II, the amir of Ferghana. She was also the elder sister of Babur, the founder of the Mughal Empire. She and her brother remained deeply attached to each other all their lives, a period during which the family progressed from ruling a tiny and obscure principality in Central Asia to ruling a large portion of the Indian subcontinent.

Tumbinai Khan, Tumbinai Setsen Khan, or, Timurids say Tumanay Khan was the Khan of the Borjigin Imperial Mongol tribe. He lived during the 11th and 12th centuries. His son and successor Khabul Khan was the founder of the Khamag Mongol after his death. His second son Khaduli aided Khabul. He was the son and successor of Baishinkhur Dogshin, who was the son of Kaidu Khan. Tumbinai was the ancestor of two great lineages: firstly through his eldest son Khabul's great-grandson Genghis Khan, who was the founder of the Mongol Empire, one of the largest empires in the world, which ruled most of the Asian continent and large parts of Europe. His lineage also extended through another son, Khaduli Barlas' great-grandson Qarachar Barlas, the founder of the Barlas Confederation, whose great-great-great-grandson Timur Barlas was the conqueror and founder of Timurid Empire in Western Asia, Central Asia, and some parts of South Asia and East Asia, and through Timur's great-great-great-grandson Babur, who was the founder of Mughal Empire in the South Asian subcontinent.

References

  1. ↑ Singh, Shashank, and Shailendra Singh. "Systematic review of spell-checkers for highly inflectional languages." Artificial Intelligence Review 53.6 (2020): 4051-4092.
  2. ↑ "Pakistan's 'fanatical' Uzbek militants". BBC News. 2014-06-11. Retrieved 2022-06-09.
  3. ↑ Afghan Refugees: Current Status and Future Prospects
  4. ↑ Audrey Shalinsky (1994). Long Years of Exile: Central Asian Refugees in Afghanistan and Pakistan. University Press of America. p. 123. ISBN   978-0-8191-9286-8.
  5. ↑ Espace populations sociétés. Université des sciences et techniques de Lille, U.E.R. de géographie. 2006. p. 174.
  6. ↑ "Islamist Uzbeks lead terrorists in Pakistan and Afghanistan – Generational Dynamics". Archived from the original on 2011-07-11. Retrieved 2010-05-16.
  7. ↑ "THE DEATH KNELL FOR FOREIGN FIGHTERS IN PAKISTAN?" by Raza Khan in the November/December 2014 edition of "CTC Sentinel Journal" published by the Combating Terrorism Center at Westpoint University
  8. ↑ Gilbert, Marc Jason (2017), South Asia in World History, Oxford University Press, pp. 75–, ISBN   978-0-19-066137-3 Quote: "Babur then adroitly gave the Ottomans his promise not to attack them in return for their military aid, which he received in the form of the newest of battlefield inventions, the matchlock gun and cast cannons, as well as instructors to train his men to use them."
  9. ↑ Stein, Burton (2010), A History of India, John Wiley & Sons, pp. 159–, ISBN   978-1-4443-2351-1 Quote: "Another possible date for the beginning of the Mughal regime is 1600, when the institutions that defined the regime were set firmly in place and when the heartland of the empire was defined; both of these were the accomplishment of Babur's grandson Akbar."
  10. ↑ Stein, Burton (2010), A History of India, John Wiley & Sons, pp. 159–, ISBN   978-1-4443-2351-1 Quote: "The imperial career of the Mughal house is conventionally reckoned to have ended in 1707 when the emperor Aurangzeb, a fifth-generation descendant of Babur, died. His fifty-year reign began in 1658 with the Mughal state seeming as strong as ever or even stronger. But in Aurangzeb's later years the state was brought to the brink of destruction, over which it toppled within a decade and a half after his death; by 1720 imperial Mughal rule was largely finished and an epoch of two imperial centuries had closed."
  11. ↑ Richards, John F. (1995), The Mughal Empire, Cambridge University Press, p. xv, ISBN   978-0-521-56603-2 Quote: "By the latter date (1720) the essential structure of the centralized state was disintegrated beyond repair."
  12. ↑ Zahir ud-Din Mohammad (2002). Thackston, Wheeler M. (ed.). The Baburnama: Memoirs of Babur, Prince and Emperor. New York: Modern Library. p.  xlvi. ISBN   978-0-375-76137-9. In India the dynasty always called itself Gurkani, after Temür's title Gurkân, the Persianized form of the Mongolian kürägän, 'son-in-law,' a title he assumed after his marriage to a Genghisid princess.
  13. ↑ Dodgson, Marshall G.S. (2009). The Venture of Islam. Vol. 3. University of Chicago Press. p. 62. ISBN   978-0-226-34688-5.
  14. ↑ Huskin, Frans Husken; Dick van der Meij (2004). Reading Asia: New Research in Asian Studies. Routledge. p. 104. ISBN   978-1-136-84377-8.
  15. ↑ John Walbridge. God and Logic in Islam: The Caliphate of Reason. p. 165. Persianate Mogul Empire.
  16. ↑ Rutherford 2010.
  17. ↑ Canfield, Robert L. (2002). Turko-Persia in Historical Perspective. Cambridge University Press. p. 20. ISBN   978-0-521-52291-5.

Sources

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