Muhajir (Pakistan)

The Urdu term muhājir () comes from the Arabic muhājir (), meaning an "immigrant", or "emigrant". This term is associated in early Islamic history to the migration of Muslims and connotes 'separation, migration, flight, specifically the flight of the Prophet from Mecca to Medina'. This term was popularised in Pakistan by the 1951 census, although its earliest uses date back to Partition. == Demographics ==

Origins Most of the Muhajirs who settled in the Sindh province of Pakistan came from the present-day Indian states of Central Provinces, Berar, Bombay, United Provinces, Haryana, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Bihar and Delhi, while others were from princely states of Jammu and Kashmir, Rajasthan, Hyderabad, Baroda, Kutch, and the Rajputana Agency. Population Muhajirs, worldwide, have a population of over 15 million. Urdu-speaking Muhajirs are mostly settled in Pakistan and currently are the fifth-largest ethnic group of Pakistan, with a population of around 7.6% of the national population, according to the census. Although the population figures of the Muhajir dominated city of Karachi, have faced many controversies mainly due to the controversial 2017 census of Pakistan. The population figure has been rejected by most major political parties of Sindh including MQM-P, PSP, and PPP. Estimates of Muhajir nationalist organizations range from 22 million to around 30 million. Conversely, Christophe Jaffrelot gives a lower number, estimating their modern population to number between 7 and 9 millions, mostly in Karachi. The variation in population estimates arises from differing definitions: the term Muhajir as an ethnic group typically refers to descendants of migrants from present-day India, whereas the broader category of Urdu speakers may also include millions of individuals, particularly ethnic Punjabis in major urban centers, who now speak Urdu as their first language. Historically, Muhajirs have constituted above 7% population of West Pakistan (3.5% in Pakistan as a whole). Languages Being a multi-linguistic group of people, the Muhajirs speak different languages natively depending on their ethnicity and ancestral history. Urdu Most Muhajirs speak Urdu, the third-largest Urdu-speaking population in the world. In Punjab, although most migrants were of East Punjab origin and Punjabi speaking, a sizeable number of natively Urdu speaking communities also migrated to its urban centres mainly from Delhi, Rohtak, Hisar, Karnal, Alwar, Bharatpur, Jodhpur, Mewat and UP. Gujarati There is a large community of Gujarati Muhajirs mainly settled in the Pakistani province of Sindh. Estimates say there are 3,500,000 speakers of the Gujarati language in Karachi. Although the Gujaratis speak their own language, they tend to identify with the Urdu-speakers This group includes Muhammad Ali Jinnah, Abdul Sattar Edhi, Javed Miandad, Abdul Razzak Yaqoob, I. I. Chundrigar, and Ahmed Dawood. Others Non-Urdu speaking Muslim peoples from what is now the Republic of India, such as Marathi, Konkani, 60,000 Rajasthanis who speak the Marwari dialect of Rajasthani language and several-thousand Malabari Muslims from Kerala in South India, are considered Muhajirs. These ethno-linguistic groups are being assimilated in the Urdu-speaking community. Many dialects related to Urdu such as Khariboli, and Haryanvi (Rangari dialect) or other languages like Awadhi, Mewati, Bhojpuri and Sadri are also spoken by the Muhajirs. == Geographic distribution ==

In Pakistan . There are an estimated 14.7 million Urdu speakers presumably mostly of Muhajir origin in Pakistan. In Bangladesh A large number of Urdu-speaking Muslims from Bihar went to East Pakistan after the independence of India and Pakistan. After the formation of Bangladesh in 1971, the Biharis maintained their loyalty to Pakistan and wanted to leave Bangladesh for Pakistan. The majority of these people still await repatriation, however. About 178,000 have been repatriated. In 2015, the Pakistani government stated that the remaining 'Stranded Pakistanis' are not its responsibility but rather the responsibility of Bangladesh. Nearly 300,000 Biharis are currently settled in the urban areas of Bangladesh. These muhajirs are settled mainly in Shahjahan Pur, Kamla Pur, Motijheel, Purana Pultan, Nawabpur road, Nawab Bari, Thatheri Bazar, Moulvi Bazar, Armani Tola, Islam Pur, Azim Pur, Saddar Ghat, Eskatan, Dhanmandi, Dhakeshwari, Neel Khet. In 2003, these Muhajirs were granted nationality and the right to vote. == History ==

. The Partition of India caused the largest migration in human history. Many Muslims in parts of present-day India were persecuted by Hindus and Sikhs, while many Hindus and Sikhs in present-day Pakistan were persecuted by Muslims. After the independence of Pakistan, a significant number of Muslims emigrated or were out-migrated from the territory that became the Dominion of India and later the Republic of India. In the aftermath of partition, a huge population exchange occurred between the two newly formed states. UNHCR estimates 14 million Hindus, Sikhs, and Muslims were displaced during the partition; it was the largest mass migration in human history. First immigration wave (August–November 1947) There were three predominant stages of Muslim migration from India to West Pakistan. The first stage lasted from August–November 1947. In this stage of migration the Muslim immigrants originated from East Punjab, Delhi, the four adjacent districts of U.P., and the princely states of Alwar and Bharatpur which are now part of the present-day Indian state of Rajasthan. The violence affecting these areas during partition precipitated an exodus of Muslims from these areas to Pakistan. The migrants were also more educated than the native, and predominantly rural Sindhi Muslims who had been less educated and less prosperous than the former Sindhi Hindu residents, suffered as a result. The migrants, who were urban, also tended to regard the local Sindhis as "backwards" and subservient to landowners. but after the independence of Pakistan in 1947, the majority of Sindh's Hindus migrated to India, 1.1 million Muslims from Uttar Pradesh, Bombay Presidency, Delhi, and Rajasthan settled in their place; half in Karachi and the rest across Sindh's other cities. By the 1951 census, the migrants constituted 57 per cent of the population of Karachi, 65 per cent in Hyderabad, and 55 per cent in Sukkur. The migrants were compensated for their properties lost in India by being granted the evacuee property left behind by the departing Hindus. A sizeable community of Malayali Muslims (the Mappila), originally from Kerala in South India, also settled in Karachi. Second immigration wave (December 1947 – December 1971) Many Muslim families from India continued migrating to Pakistan throughout the 1950s and even early 1960s. This second stage (December 1947 – December 1971) of the migration was from areas in the present-day Indian states of U.P., Delhi, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, and Kerala. The main destination of these migrants was Karachi and the other urban centers of Sindh. Pakistan still required educated and skilled workers to absorb into its economy at the time, due to relatively low levels of education (15.9 per cent in 1961) in Pakistan. As late as December 1971, the Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi was authorized to issue documents to educationally-qualified Indians to migrate to Pakistan. The legal route was taken by unemployed but educated Indian Muslims seeking better fortunes, however poorer Muslims from India continued to go illegally via the Rajasthan-Sindh border until the 1965 India–Pakistan war when that route was shut. After the conclusion of the 1965 war, most Muslims who wanted to go to Pakistan had to go there via the East Pakistani-India border. Once reaching Dhaka, most made their way to the final destination-Karachi. However, the 1961 Census of Pakistan did incorporate a statement suggesting that there had been a migration of 800,000 people from India to Pakistan throughout the previous decade. Of those who had left for Pakistan, most never came back. The Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru conveyed distress about the continued migration of Indian Muslims to West Pakistan:There has...since 1950 been a movement of some Muslims from India to Western Pakistan through Jodhpur–Sindh via Khokhropar. Normally, traffic between India and West Pakistan was controlled by the permit system. But these Muslims going via Khokhropar went without permits to West Pakistan. From January 1952 to the end of September, 53,209 Muslim emigrants went via Khokhropar....Most of these probably came from the U.P. In October 1952, up to the 14th, 6,808 went by this route. After that Pakistan became much stricter on allowing entry on the introduction of the passport system. From 15 October to the end of October, 1,247 went by this route. From 1 November, 1,203 went via Khokhropar.Indian Muslim migration to West Pakistan continued unabated despite the cessation of the permit system between the two countries and the introduction of the passport system between them. ==Politics==

The Muhajirs have started many socio-political groups in Pakistan such as the Muttahida Qaumi Movement under Altaf Hussain in 1984, the All Pakistan Muslim League under Pervez Musharraf, and Jamaat e Islami under Abul A'la Maududi. British-era Khilafat Movement |thumb|upright During the last period of the Ottoman Empire, the empire was indebted and the community provided significant financial support to preserve the empire. The members of the movement who are now Muhajirs granted the money to preserve the Ottoman Empire but were unable to prevent its decline; it was the biggest political eminence in pre-Muhajir history. Pakistan Movement The Pakistan movement, to constitute a separate state comprising the Muslim-majority provinces, was supported by the Urdu-speaking Muslim elite and many notables of the Aligarh Movement. It was initiated in the 19th century when Sir Syed Ahmed Khan, the grandson of the Khwaja Fakhruddin, the Vizier of Akbar Shah II, expounded the cause of Muslim autonomy in Aligarh. In its early years, Muslim nobles such as nawabs (aristocrats and landed gentry) supported the idea, but as the idea spread, it gained great support among the Muslim population and in particular the rising middle and upper classes. The Muslims launched the movement under the banner of the All India Muslim League and Delhi was its main centre. The headquarters of the All India Muslim League (the founding party of Pakistan) was based, since its creation in 1906, in Dhaka (present-day Bangladesh). The Muslim League won 90 per cent of reserved Muslim seats in the 1946 elections and its demand for the creation of Pakistan received overwhelming popular support among Indian Muslims, especially in those provinces of British India such as U.P. where Muslims were a minority. 1947–1958 The Muhajirs of Pakistan were largely settled in Sindh province, particularly in the province's capital, Karachi, where the Muhajirs were in a majority. As a result of their domination of major Sindhi cities, there had been tensions between Muhajirs and the native Sindhis, and this has been a major factor in the shaping of Muhajir politics. The Muhajirs, upon their arrival in Pakistan, soon joined the Punjabi-dominated ruling elite of the newborn country due to their high rates of education and urban background. Upon arrival in Pakistan, the Muhajirs did not assert themselves as a separate ethnic identity, being multi-ethnic themselves, but were at the forefront of trying to construct an Islamic Pakistani identity. Muhajirs dominated the bureaucracy of Sindh in the early years of the Pakistani state, largely due to their higher levels of educational attainment. Prior to the partition, Hindus dominated the professions of lawyers, teachers, and tradesmen in Sindh and the vacancies they left behind were filled up by the Muhajirs. Out of the 101 Muslims in India's civil service, 95 chose to leave India. A third of those civil servants were West Punjabis and there were as many Muhajirs as Punjabis. The Muhajirs also had a strong hold over the economy, 36 of the 42 largest private companies belonged to Muhajirs, mainly those from the Indian state of Gujarat. By the time of Pakistan's first military regime (Ayub Khan, 1958), the Muhajirs had already begun to lose their influence in the ruling elite, especially after he changed the federal capital of Karachi to Islamabad. The percentage of Muhajirs in the civil service declined while the percentage of others increased. In the presidential election of 1965, the Muslim League split into two factions: the Muslim League (Fatima Jinnah) supported Fatima Jinnah, the younger sister of Muhammad Ali Jinnah, while the Convention Muslim League supported General Ayub Khan. The Muhajirs at this time supported the Muslim League of Fatima Jinnah against Ayub Khan. The rivalry reached a peak after the electoral fraud of the 1965 presidential election and a post-election triumphal march by Gohar Ayub Khan, the son of General Ayub Khan, set off ethnic clashes between Pashtuns and Muhajirs in Karachi on 4 January 1965. Four years later, on 24 March 1969, President Ayub Khan directed a letter to General Yahya Khan, inviting him to deal with the tense political situation in Pakistan. On 26 March 1969, General Yahya appeared on national television and proclaimed martial law over the country. Yahya subsequently abrogated the 1962 Constitution, dissolved parliament, and dismissed President Ayub's civilian officials. 1970–1977 The 1970 Pakistani general election on 7 December 1970, saw the Awami League winning the elections. The Muhajirs had voted for the Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan and Jamiat Ulema-e-Pakistan, The nationalization of Pakistan's educational institutions, financial institutions, and industry in 1972 by Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto of Pakistan People's Party impacted the Muhajirs hardest as their educational institutions, commerce, and industries were nationalized without any compensation. Subsequently, the quota system introduced by Liaquat Ali Khan which allowed Muhajirs to take government jobs was reversed by Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto preventing them from taking government jobs and other government institutions, by introducing urban rural quota divide in government job slots. These policies also included the forceful retirement, dismissal or demotion of over 1,000 Urdu-speaking officers. Due to the clashes, Prime Minister Bhutto compromised and announced that Urdu and Sindhi would both be official languages in Sindh. The move had frustrated the Muhajirs as they did not speak the Sindhi language. 1977–1988 In the 1977 Pakistani general election, Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan and Jamiat Ulema-e-Pakistan joined in a coalition named the Pakistan National Alliance. Since the Muhajirs voted mostly for the Pakistan National Alliance, The movement was particularly strong among Karachi's middle and lower-middle-classes who clashed with state forces and political opponents in deadly gun battles and destroyed state-owned plants. A year after Zia's coup, Jamaat e Islami started losing support to the newly founded APMSO, which believed that Jamat Islami and Jamiat Ulema Pakistan were "playing the muhajirs false". APMSO created several militant cells, such as Black Tigers and Nadeem Commandos, to counter the heavily armed Thunder squad of Islami Jamiat-e-Talaba. On 18 March 1984, the senior members of APMSO launched the Mohajir Qaumi Movement (MQM) – an ethnic Muhajir party that was to serve as the senior partner of the APMSO. On 8 August 1986, a day still celebrated by the party as the moment the MQM came to the fore as a political force, Altaf Hussain drew thousands of Muhajirs to a rally in Nishtar Park where he declared Muhajirs a fifth sub-nationality within Pakistan. A year after the rally in Nishtar Park, MQM swept the local bodies' election in Karachi and Hyderabad. emerged as the third-largest political party of Pakistan, in alliance with PPP. Differences developed between the PPP and MQM after dozens were killed at an MQM congregation by Sindhi nationalists, and the alliance fell apart in the wake of ensuing violence. In June 1992, a massive 'Operation Cleanup' was launched to rid the city of terrorism but MQM was selectively targeted. The Party's political offices were shut down as scores of its workers were killed in extra judicial murders and shootouts, After the operation ended, MQM staged a comeback and a second crackdown against MQM was carried out during the tenure of Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, in which many associated with the party were killed. After the military takeover in 1999 by Pervez Musharraf, the MQM backed Pervez Musharraf strongly till his resignation in 2008. Even after Musharraf's fall from power, MQM continued to dominate Muhajir politics until 2016 when it broke up into four factions and collapsed. 2016–present Amid a fractured MQM, the populist leader Imran Khan's PTI started to dominate Karachi's politics with a multiethnic support base from all walks of life, including the Muhajirs mainly from upper-middle and middle class, while lower-middle class Muhajirs turned to Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan. Despite tough opposition from PPP and TLP, PTI managed to bag the popular vote en masses during the 2018 Pakistani general elections, though with a lower voter turnout. But in 2023, after the merger of the MQM factions, MQM staged a comeback into Muhajir politics. In 2023 Karachi local government elections MQM-P's boycott resulted in very low voter turnouts. == Society ==

National integration A 2009 Pew Research Center report found that 92% of Muhajirs identified primarily as Pakistani when choosing between national and ethnic identities, the second highest proportion among all surveyed groups after Punjabis (96%), and at an equal level with Pashtuns. Economic status A 2023 research project conducted by Karachi University found that 9% of Muhajirs were upper-class, while 17% were upper-middle class, 52% middle class, 13% lower middle and 9% lower class. A 2019 study by Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Center found that Muhajir women have the highest employment rate and monthly income among all major ethnic groups of Pakistan. And according to the 1951 census of Pakistan, less than 15 per cent of Muhajirs were unskilled labourers, with almost 61 per cent classified as skilled workers and more than 5 per cent belonging to professional and managerial backgrounds. By settlements, 68.4% Muhajirs lived in planned areas and 88.9% have access to basic utilities. They have been very successful in finance institutions, and have founded most of Pakistan's banking institutions including State Bank of Pakistan, Habib Bank Limited, United Bank Limited, and Bank AL Habib. Sports Until the 1970s, Karachi had been a historical centre for producing cricketers and hockey players for the Pakistan national cricket team and hockey team. Some of the notable cricketers of a Muhajir background during the era include Javed Miandad among many others. Health and genetics In the ethnic groups of Pakistan, the lowest prevalence of metabolic syndrome was seen in Muhajirs (32.5%). Muhajirs have a gene diversity of 0.6081, which is 0.001 less than the Pakistani average of 0.6091. The overall prevalence of proteinuria in Muhajir children 3.6%. == Culture ==

Muhajir culture is the culture that migrated mainly from North India after the independence of Pakistan in 1947 generally to Karachi. The Muhajir culture refers to the Pakistani variation of Indo-Islamic culture and part of the Culture of Karachi city in Pakistan. Cuisine Muhajir cuisine refers to the cuisine of Muhajirs, and is covered under both Indian and Pakistani cuisines, and is mostly found in the Pakistani city of Karachi. Special dishes include biryani, qorma, kofta, seekh kabab, nihari, haleem, Nargisi koftay, roghani naan, naan, sheer-khurma (dessert), and chai (sweet, milky tea) are associated with Muhajir cuisine. Traditional dress The traditional clothing of Muhajirs is the traditional clothing worn by Muslims in North India, and it has both Muslim and South Asian influences. Both Muslim men and women wear the shalwar kameez. Men also wear the sherwani, and it is believed to have been introduced to Pakistan by Muhajirs. Muhajir women (mainly from Northern India) wear sari, which is an un-stitched stretch of woven fabric arranged over the body like a robe. The Gharara was also worn by Muhajir women, which originated from the Nawabs' attempt to imitate the British evening gown. Festivals Muhajirs celebrate many festivals which include religious, political, ethnic, and national festivals. Islamic festivals which are celebrated by Muhajirs include Eid-al-Fitr, Eid-al-Adha, and Ashoura. Political celebrations include MQM Founding Day, Death anniversary of Azeem Ahmad Tariq, and APMSO Founding Day. Muhajirs celebrate Muhajir Cultural Day as an ethnic and cultural festival. == Notable people ==