Where are the Muhajir originally from?

There are over 400,000 Urdu-speakers in the UK, some of whom are Muhajirs. Muhajirs originally migrated from present-day India to Pakistan following the partition of British India in 1947. Most of them settled in Pakistan's largest city, Karachi, where they form the demographic majority. Many Muhajir Pakistanis later migrated to Britain, effecting a secondary migration. Altaf Hussain, leader of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM)—the largest political party in Karachi, with its roots lying in the Muhajir community—has been based in England in self-imposed exile since 1992. He is controversially regarded to have virtually "ruled" and "remotely governed" Karachi from his residence in the north London suburb of Edgware.

British Pakistanis

British Pakistanis (; also known as Pakistani British people or Pakistani Britons) are citizens or residents of the United Kingdom whose ancestral roots lie in Pakistan. This includes people born in the UK who are of Pakistani descent, and Pakistani-born people who have migrated to the UK. The majority of British Pakistanis originate from the Azad Kashmir and Punjab regions, with a smaller number from other parts of Pakistan including Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan.

The UK is home to the largest Pakistani community in Europe, with the population of British Pakistanis exceeding 1.17 million based on the 2011 census. British Pakistanis are the second-largest ethnic minority population in the United Kingdom and also make up the second-largest sub-group of British Asians. In addition, they are one of the largest overseas Pakistani communities, similar in number to the Pakistani diaspora in Saudi Arabia.

Due to the historical relations between the two countries, immigration to the UK from the region which is now Pakistan began in small numbers in the mid-19th century. During the mid-nineteenth century, parts of what is now Pakistan came under the British Raj and people from those regions served as soldiers in the British Indian Army, and some were deployed in other parts of the British Empire. However, it was following the Second World War, the break-up of the British Empire and the independence of Pakistan, that Pakistani immigration to the United Kingdom increased, especially during the 1950s and 1960s. This was made easier as Pakistan was a member of the Commonwealth. Pakistani immigrants helped to resolve labour shortages in the British steel, textile and engineering industries. Doctors from Pakistan were recruited by the National Health Service in the 1960s.

The British Pakistani population has grown from about 10,000 in 1951 to over 1.1 million in 2011. The vast majority of these live in England, with a sizable number in Scotland and smaller numbers in Wales and Northern Ireland. The most diverse Pakistani population is in London which comprises Punjabis, Mirpuri Kashmiris, Pashtuns, Sindhis, Muhajirs, Saraikis, Baloch and others.

The majority of British Pakistanis are Muslim; around 90 per cent of those living in England and Wales at the time of the 2011 UK Census stated their religion was Islam. The majority are Sunni Muslims, with a significant minority of Shia Muslims.

The UK also has one of the largest overseas Christian Pakistani communities; the 2011 census recorded around 17,000 Christian Pakistanis living in England and Wales, around 1 per cent of the Pakistani population of England and Wales.

Since their settlement, British Pakistanis have had diverse contributions and influence on British society, politics, culture, economy and sport. Whilst social issues include high relative poverty rates among the community according to the 2001 census, significant progress has been made in recent years, with the 2011 Census showing British Pakistanis as having amongst the highest levels of home ownership in Britain.

A large number of British Pakistanis have traditionally been self-employed, with a significant number working in the transport industry or in family-run businesses of the retail sector.

The earliest period of Asian migration to Britain has not been ascertained. It is known that Romani (Gypsy) groups such as the Romanichal and Kale arrived in the region during the Middle Ages, having originated from North India and Pakistan and traveled westward to Europe via Southwest Asia around 1000 CE, intermingling with local populations over the course of several centuries.

Immigration from what is now Pakistan to the United Kingdom began long before the independence of Pakistan in 1947. Muslim immigrants from Kashmir, Punjab, Sindh, the North-West Frontier and Balochistan as well as other parts of South Asia, arrived in the British Isles as early as the mid-seventeenth century as employees of the East India Company, typically as "lashkars" and sailors in British port cities. These immigrants were often the first Asians to be seen in British port cities and were initially perceived as indolent due to their reliance on Christian charities. Despite this, most early Pakistani immigrants married local white British women because there were few South Asian women in Britain at the time.

During the colonial era, Asians continued coming to Britain as seamen, traders, students, domestic workers, cricketers, political officials and visitors, and some of them settled in the region. South Asian seamen sometimes settled after ill treatment or being abandoned by ship masters.

Many early Pakistanis came to the UK as scholars and studied at major British institutions, before later returning to British India. An example of such a person is Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan. Jinnah came to the UK in 1892 and started an apprenticeship at Graham's Shipping and Trading Company. After completing his apprenticeship, Jinnah joined Lincoln's Inn where he trained as a barrister. At 19, Jinnah became the youngest person from South Asia to be called to the bar in Britain.

Most early Pakistani settlers (then part of the British India Empire) and their families moved from port towns to the Midlands, as Britain declared war on Germany in 1939. Many of these Kashmiris, Punjabis and Sindhis worked in the munition factories of Birmingham. After the war, most of these early settlers stayed on in the region and took advantage of an increase in the number of jobs. These settlers were later joined by the arrival of their families to Britain.

In 1932, the Indian National Congress survey of 'all Indians outside India' (Which Pakistani regions were then part of) estimated that there were 7,128 Indians in the United Kingdom.

There were 832,500 Muslim Indian soldiers in 1945; most of these recruits were from what is now Pakistan. These soldiers fought alongside the British Army during the First and Second World Wars, particularly in the latter, during the Battle of France, the North African Campaign and the Burma Campaign. Many contributed to the war effort as skilled labourers, including as assembly-line workers in the aircraft factory at Castle Bromwich, Birmingham, which produced Spitfire fighters. Most returned to the South Asia after their service, although many of these former soldiers returned to Britain in the 1950s and 1960s to fill labour shortages.

Following the Second World War, the break-up of the British Empire and the independence of Pakistan, Pakistani immigration to the United Kingdom increased, especially during the 1950s and 1960s. Many Pakistanis came to Britain following the turmoil during the partition of India and the subsequent independence of Pakistan; among them were those who migrated to Pakistan upon displacement from India, and then migrated to the UK, thus becoming secondary migrants. Migration was made easier as Pakistan was a member of the Commonwealth of Nations. Pakistanis were invited by employers to fill labour shortages which arose after the Second World War. As Commonwealth citizens, they were eligible for most British civic rights. They found employment in the textile industries of Lancashire and Yorkshire, manufacturing in the West Midlands, and car production and food processing industries of Luton and Slough. It was common for Pakistani employees to work on night shifts and at other less-desirable hours.

Many Mirpuris began emigrating from Pakistan after the completion of Mangla Dam in Mirpur, Azad Kashmir, in the late 1950s led to the destruction of hundreds of villages. Up to 5,000 people from Mirpur (five per cent of the displaced) left for Britain, while others were allotted land in neighbouring Punjab or used monetary compensation to resettle elsewhere in Pakistan. The displaced Mirpuris were given legal and financial assistance by the British contractor which had built the dam. Those from unaffected areas of Pakistan, such as the Punjab, also immigrated to Britain to help fill labour shortages. Punjabis began to leave Pakistan in the 1960s. They worked in the foundries of the English Midlands, and a significant number also settled in Southall in West London.

During the 1960s, a considerable number of Pakistanis also arrived from urban areas. Many of these people were qualified teachers, doctors, and engineers. They had a predisposition to settle in London due to its greater economic opportunities compared to the Midlands or the North of England. Most medical staff from Pakistan were recruited in the 1960s and almost all worked for the National Health Service. At the same time, the number of Pakistanis coming as workers declined.

In addition, there was a stream of migrants from East Pakistan (now Bangladesh). During the 1970s, a large number of East African Asians, most of whom already held British passports because they were brought to Africa by British colonialists, entered the UK from Kenya and Uganda. Idi Amin chose to expel all Ugandan Asians in 1972 because of the perception that they were responsible for the country's economic stagnation. The Commonwealth Immigrants Act 1962 and Immigration Act 1971 largely restricted any further primary immigration to the UK, although family members of already-settled immigrants were allowed to join their relatives.

The early Pakistani workers who entered the UK came with the intent of staying and working temporarily and eventually returning home. However, this changed into permanent family immigration since the 1962 Act, as well as due to socio-economic circumstances and the future of children which most families saw in Britain.

When the UK experienced deindustrialisation in the 1970s, many British Pakistanis became unemployed. The change from the manufacturing sector to the service sector was difficult for ethnic minorities and white Britons alike, especially for those with little academic education. The Midlands and North of England were areas which were heavily reliant on manufacturing industries and the effects of deindustrialisation continue to be felt in these areas. As a result, increasing numbers of British Pakistanis have resorted to self-employment. National statistics from 2004 show that one in seven British Pakistani men work as taxi drivers, cab drivers or chauffeurs.

In the 2011 UK Census, 1,174,983 residents classified themselves as ethnically Pakistani (excluding people of mixed ethnicity), regardless of their birthplace. The equivalent figure in the 2001 UK Census was 747,285, an increase of 427,000 over 10 years. Of those Pakistanis living in England, Wales and Scotland in 2001, 55 per cent were born in the UK, 36.9 per cent in Pakistan and 3.5 per cent elsewhere in Asia. According to estimates by the Office for National Statistics, the number of people born in Pakistan living in the UK in 2013 was 502,000. The Ministry of Overseas Pakistanis of the Pakistan government estimates that 1.26 million Pakistanis eligible for dual nationality live in the UK, constituting well over half of the total number of Pakistanis in Europe.

The majority of British Pakistanis are from the Azad Kashmir and Punjab areas of Pakistan, with Azad Kashmiris making up the largest and Punjabis making up the second largest portion. A high proportion of the members of Pakistani communities in the West Midlands and the North originated in Azad Kashmir. Large communities from Azad Kashmir can be found in Birmingham, Bradford, Oldham and the surrounding northern towns. Luton and Slough have the largest Mirpuri Kashmiri communities in the south of England, while a large proportion of Punjabis also reside in the south. There is also a small Pakistani Pashtun population in the UK.

Up to 250,000 Pakistanis come to the UK each year, for work, visit or other purposes. Likewise, up to 270,000 British citizens travel to Pakistan each year, mainly to visit family. Pakistan International Airlines flies to several UK airports, providing air linkages between Pakistan and the UK.
Demographer Ceri Peach has estimated the number of British Pakistanis in the 1951 to 1991 censuses. He back-projected the ethnic composition of the 2001 census to the estimated minority populations during previous census years. The results are as follows:

At the time of the 2011 UK Census, the distribution of people describing their ethnicity as Pakistani was as follows:

Greater London has the largest Pakistani community in the United Kingdom. The 2011 census recorded 224,000 British Pakistanis living in London. However, it only forms 2.7 per cent of London's population, which is significantly lower than certain other British cities despite their lower overall Pakistani population. This population is made up of Punjabis, Mirpuris, Pashtuns, Sindhis, Muhajirs and Baloch. This mix comparably makes the British Pakistani community of London more diverse than other communities in the UK, whereas a high proportion of Pakistani communities in the West Midlands and the North came from Azad Kashmir.

The largest concentrations are in East London, with the largest communities found in places including Ilford, Leyton, Walthamstow, Newham borough and Barking. Significant communities can also be found in the boroughs of Brent, Ealing and Hounslow in West London and Wandsworth and Croydon in South London.

A considerable number of Pakistanis have set up their own businesses, often employing family members. Today, a fifth of Pakistani Londoners are self-employed. Businesses such as grocery stores and newsagents are common, while later arrivers commonly work as taxi drivers or chauffeurs. Well-known British Pakistanis from London include Sadiq Khan, the mayor of London; Anwar Pervez, whose Earl's Court grocery store expanded into the Bestway chain with a turnover of £2 billion, and the playwright and author Hanif Kureishi.

Birmingham has the second largest Pakistani community in the United Kingdom. The 2011 census recorded that there were 140,000 Pakistanis living in Birmingham, making up 13.5 per cent of the city's population. Although London has almost twice as many Pakistanis, Birmingham is viewed as the'main location' of all Pakistanis in Britain. The largest concentrations are in inner city Birmingham and areas such as Sparkhill, Small Heath, Bordesley Green, Balsall Heath, Aston, Ward End, Lozells, Nechells, Alum Rock and Washwood Heath. Wealthy middle-class Pakistanis tend to live in Hall Green and Yardley. The majority of "Brummie" Pakistanis can trace their roots to Azad Kashmir, with large minorities from Punjab and more recently, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa. The BBC sitcom "Citizen Khan" is set among the Pakistani community of Sparkhill, described as "the capital of British Pakistan."

In 2007, it was estimated that 80,000 Pakistanis lived in Bradford, 16.1 per cent of the city's population. The 2011 Census breakdown shows that the population had reached 106,000. One can find several shop signs written in Urdu when in Bradford. The majority of British Pakistanis here can trace their roots to the Mirpur District of Azad Kashmir.

Pakistanis make up the largest ethnic minority in Scotland, representing nearly one third of the ethnic minority. The 2011 census recorded 22,405 Pakistanis in Glasgow, 3.78% of the city's total population. There are large Pakistani communities throughout the city, notably in the Pollokshields area of South Glasgow, where there are said to be some "high standard" Pakistani takeaways and Asian fabric shops. The majority came from the central Punjab part of Pakistan, including Faisalabad and Lahore.

A survey by the University of Glasgow found that Scottish Pakistanis felt more patriotic than English people living there, and that their preferred political party was the Scottish National Party. Glaswegian Humza Yousaf, of the SNP, who has served as the Minister for Transport and the Islands in the devolved Scottish Government since 18 May 2016, is of partly Pakistani descent.

Pakistanis are the largest visible minority in Manchester, where they made up 3.8 per cent of the city's population in 2001. Large Pakistani populations are also to be found in the Greater Manchester boroughs of Oldham and Rochdale, where they constituted 4.1 and 5.5 per cent of the population, respectively. In 2011, the ethnic Pakistani population of Manchester had risen to 42,904, or 8.5% of the city's total population. In the wider area of Greater Manchester, there were 130,012 people of Pakistani ethnicity, or 4.8 per cent of the population. With greater prosperity, a recent trend has seen some of Manchester's Asian community move out of the inner city into more spacious suburbs, though British Pakistanis in Oldham and Rochdale remain less transient due to lower economic opportunities in these towns.

A significant number of Manchester-based Pakistani business families have moved down the A34 road to live in the affluent Heald Green area. Academics have associated the suburban movement of Pakistani-origin Muslims in Manchester with the formation of "gilded ghettoes" in the sought-after commuter suburbs of Cheshire.

Nottingham historically has always had a very large Pakistani community and is the largest as percent in the East Midlands with 5.48% of Pakistanis making up Nottingham. The 2011 census recorded 16,771 British Pakistanis in the city. There are a number of areas as to where Pakistanis have major businesses and a number of 'Curry mile' streets as in Radford Road, Alfreton Road and Sneinton Dale Road. Within Bobbersmill and Forest Fields areas there are over 17.4% Pakistanis.

Nottingham also plays a part in the political system in Pakistan with North/West Nottingham often holding talks for the Muslim League Party whilst East and South Nottingham holds talks for the Pakistan Peoples Party with then Benazir Bhutto visiting the Pakistan Centre in St Ann's. Key areas as where Pakistanis have significant numbers are:- St Ann's, Sneinton, Meadows, Radford, Hyson Green, Forest Fields, Bobbersmill. Of the Pakistanis the majority are Muslim.

The majority of Pakistanis in the UK (over 90%) are Muslims. The largest proportion of these belong to the Sunni branch of Islam, with a significant minority belonging to the Shia branch. Other notable sects include Ahmadiyya (whose spiritual leader, Mirza Masroor Ahmad, is based in London) and Sufism. Mosques, community centres and religious youth organisations play an integral part in British Pakistani social life. Pakistanis account for 38 per cent of all Muslims in England and Wales. This figure varies from a high of 71 per cent in Yorkshire and The Humber to a low of 21.5 per cent in Greater London. In England and Wales, there are around 17,000 Pakistani Christians, and slightly fewer Hindus, Sikhs, Zoroastrians (mainly Parsis) and others.

The overall religious breakdown of British Pakistanis living in England and Wales in 2011 was:

Most British Pakistanis speak English, and those who were born in the UK consider British English to be their first language. Pakistani English is spoken by first-generation and recent immigrants. Urdu, the national language of Pakistan, is understood and spoken by many British Pakistanis at a native level, and is the fourth-most commonly spoken language in the UK. Urdu is taught in some secondary schools and colleges for GCSEs and A Levels. It is also offered in madrassas along with Arabic.

As the majority of Pakistanis in Britain are from Azad Kashmir and Punjab, some common languages spoken amongst Pakistanis in Britain are Punjabi, Potohari, Mirpuri and Hindko, which are closely related dialects of Punjabi. Other Punjabi dialects are also spoken in Britain, making Punjabi the third-most commonly spoken language. Other significant Pakistani languages spoken include Pashto, Saraiki, Sindhi, Balochi and a minority of others. The number of speakers of such languages (as a primary language) in the United Kingdom, based on an Ethnologue report, are shown below. Some of these languages are not only spoken by British Pakistanis, but also by other groups such as British Indians, British Afghans or British Iranians; these are indicated by asterisks.

Many British Pakistanis have emigrated from the UK, establishing a diaspora of their own. There are around 80,000 Britons in Pakistan, a substantial number of whom are British Pakistanis who have resettled in Pakistan. The town of Mirpur in Azad Kashmir, where the majority of British Pakistanis hail from, has a large expatriate population of resettled British Pakistanis and is dubbed "Little England".

Other British Pakistanis have migrated elsewhere to Europe, North America, the Middle East, Asia and Australia. Dubai, UAE remains a popular destination for British Pakistani expatriates to live in, mainly because of its modern lifestyle and work opportunities, Muslim culture, and convenient location between the UK and Pakistan.

Pakistan's Independence Day is celebrated on 14 August of each year. The celebrations and events usually take place in large Pakistani-populated areas of various cities, primarily on Green Street in Newham, London, and the Curry mile in Manchester. The colourful celebrations last all day, with various festivals. Pakistani Muslims also observe the month of Ramadan and mark the Islamic festivals of Eid ul Adha and Eid ul Fitr.

The annual Birmingham Eid Mela attracts more than 20,000 British Pakistanis to celebrate the festival of Eid. The Eid Mela also welcomes Muslims of other ethnic backgrounds. The sounds of top international and UK Asian artists participate who join in the fun and help celebrate the nationwide Muslim community through its culture, music, food and sport. The UK is also an attractive market for Asian retail. Green Street in East London is a prime destination for shopping, hosting Europe's "first Asian shopping mall". A number of high-end Pakistani fashion and other retail brands have opened stores in the UK.

Pakistani and South Asian cuisines are highly popular in Britain and have nurtured a largely successful food industry. The cuisine of Pakistan is strongly related to North Indian cuisine, coupled with an exotic blend of Arabic, Afghan, Central Asian, Persian and Turkish flavours. The Pakistani language Urdu is also a mixture of Arabic, Persian and Turkish, which shows and reflects the unity between the linguistic and culinary aspects of Pakistani culture. Mirpuri cuisine and Punjabi cuisine are well represented in Britain, reflecting the ethnic backgrounds of the Pakistanis who live in Britain.

The popular Balti dish has its roots in Birmingham, where it was believed to have been created by a Pakistani immigrant of Balti origin in 1977. The dish is thought to have borrowed native tastes from the northern Pakistani region of Baltistan in Kashmir. In 2009, the Birmingham City Council attempted to trademark the Balti dish to give the curry Protected Geographical Status alongside items such as luxury cheese and champagne. The area of Birmingham where the Balti dish was first served is known locally as the "Balti Triangle" or "Balti Belt".

Chicken tikka masala has long been amongst the nation's favourite dishes, and is claimed to have been invented by a Pakistani chef in Glasgow, though its origins remain disputed. There has been support for a campaign in Glasgow to obtain European Union Protected Designation of Origin status for it.

Pakistanis are well represented in the British food industry. Many self-employed British Pakistanis own takeaways and restaurants. "Indian restaurants" in the North of England are almost entirely Pakistani owned. According to the Food Standards Agency, the South Asian food industry in the UK is worth £3.2 billion, accounting for two thirds of all eating out, and serving about 2.5 million British customers every week. Mirpuri and Punjabi origin curry sauces are sold in British supermarkets by British Pakistani entrepreneurs such as Manchester-born Nighat Awan. Awan's Asian food business, Shere Khan, has made her one of the richest women in Britain.

Successful fast-food chains founded by British Pakistanis include Chicken Cottage and Dixy Chicken.

The expansion of the British Empire led to cricket being played overseas. Cricket is a core part of Pakistani sporting culture and is often played by British Pakistanis for leisure and recreation. Aftab Habib, Usman Afzaal, Kabir Ali, Owais Shah, Sajid Mahmood, Adil Rashid, Amjad Khan, Ajmal Shahzad, Moeen Ali and Zafar Ansari have played cricket for England. Similarly, Asim Butt, Omer Hussain, Majid Haq, Qasim Sheikh and Moneeb Iqbal have represented Scotland. Prior to playing for England, Amjad Khan represented Denmark, the country of his birth. Imad Wasim became the first Welsh-born cricketer to represent Pakistan. Former Pakistani cricketer Azhar Mahmood moved his career to England and became a naturalised British citizen. There are several other British Pakistanis, as well as cricketers from Pakistan, who play English county cricket.

Many young British Pakistanis find it difficult to make their way to the highest level of playing for England, despite lots of talent around the country. Many concerns about this habve been documented although the number of British Pakistanis making progress in representing England is on the rise.

The Pakistan national cricket team enjoys a substantial following among British Pakistanis, with the level of support translating to the equivalent of a home advantage whenever the team tours the UK. The "Stani Army" are a group consisting of British Pakistanis who follow the team especially when they play in the UK. England and Pakistan share a long cricketing relationship, often characterised by rivalries.

Football is also widely followed and played by many young British Pakistanis (see British Asians in association football). Many players in the Pakistan national football team are British-born Pakistanis who became eligible to represent the country due to their Pakistani heritage. Zesh Rehman is a football defender who briefly played for Fulham F.C., becoming the first British Asian to play in the Premier League, before also playing for the English national U-18, U-19 and U-20 football teams until eventually opting for Pakistan.

Other notable British Pakistani footballers include Adnan Ahmed, Amjad Iqbal, Atif Bashir, Iltaf Ahmed, Kashif Siddiqi, Reis Ashraf, Shabir Khan and Usman Gondal. Hockey and polo are commonly played in Pakistan, with the former being a national sport, but these sports are not as popular among British Pakistanis, possibly due to the urban lifestyles which the majority of them embrace. Imran Sherwani was a hockey player of Pakistani descent who played for the English and Great Britain national field hockey teams.

Adam Khan is a race car driver from Bridlington, Yorkshire. He represents Pakistan in the A1 Grand Prix series. Khan is currently the demonstration driver for the Renault F1 racing team. Ikram Butt was the first South Asian to play international rugby for England in 1995. He is the founder of the British Asian Rugby Association and the British Pakistani rugby league team, and has also captained Pakistan. Amir Khan is the most famous British Pakistani boxer. He is the current WBA World light welterweight champion and 2004 Summer Olympics silver medalist. Matthew Syed was a table tennis international, and the English number one for many years. Lianna Swan is a swimmer who has represented Pakistan in several events.

A number of British Pakistani writers are notable in the field of literature. They include Tariq Ali, Kamila Shamsie, Nadeem Aslam, Mohsin Hamid and others. Through their publications, diaspora writers have developed a body of work that has come to be known as Pakistani English literature.

A report conducted by The University of Essex found that British Pakistanis identify with 'Britishness' more than any other Britons. The study is one of several recent studies that have found that Pakistanis in Britain express a strong sense of belonging in Britain. The report showed that 90% of Pakistanis feel a strong sense of belonging in Britain compared to 84% of white Britons. English Pakistanis tend to identify much more with the United Kingdom than with England, with 63% describing themselves in a Policy Exchange survey as exclusively "British" and not "English" in terms of nationality, and only 15% saying they were solely English.

Around 70% of all British Pakistanis trace their origins to the region of Mirpur in Azad Kashmir, northeastern Pakistan, including the towns of Dadyal, Chakswari, Islamgarh, Khari Sharif, Prahi, Bajjar and surrounding villages. Some also originate from the neighbouring districts of Bagh, Muzaffarabad, Rawalakot, Neelum, Bhimber and Kotli. Pahari-Potwari dialects, spoken natively by Mirpuri immigrants, figure as the most commonly spoken languages of the British Pakistani community after English. Whilst these people may identify as "Kashmiris", most of them are not ethnic Kashmiris; rather, their native regions came under the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir in 1846.

The first generation migrant Mirpuris were not highly educated, and being from rural settlements, had little or no experience of urban living in Pakistan. Migration from Mirpur and its adjacent areas started soon after the second world war as the majority of the male population of this area and the Potohar region worked in the British armed forces, as well as to fill labour shortages in industry. But the mass migration phenomenon accelerated in the 1960s, when, for improving water supply, the Mangla Dam project was built in the area, flooding the surrounding farmlands. Up to 5,000 people from Mirpur (five per cent of the displaced) resettled in Britain. The British contractor undertaking the project provided assistance to the displaced Mirpuris. More Mirpuris joined their relatives in Britain after availing government compensation and liberal migration policies. Cities with large concentration of Mirpuris are Manchester, Bradford, Birmingham, Leeds and Luton. Today, there are an estimated 700,000 people from Azad Kashmir residing in the UK.

Mirpur was considered to be a conservative district in the 1960s, and life in its rural villages like most of the South Asian countries, was dominated by rigid hierarchies. Economic boom brought dramatic changes to the area after its residents started migrating to Europe, especially the UK, bolstering remittances. Families in Pakistan tend to be close knit and the guiding influence behind everything from marriage to business. These Asian cultural values have clashed with British ones, which tend to be more free thinking and independent. Mirpuri migrants lived in some of the most segregated areas of Britain, and their children attended the most segregated schools. The British government has made attempts to improve community cohesion by nurturing a sense of shared or collective national identity. One programme designed to encourage greater social mixing includes the busing of students of Pakistani origin to "white schools" in an attempt to bridge the divide between the British Pakistani and white British ethnic groups.

The Mirpuri community has made significant economic progress over the years. In almost all the major UK cities there is a sizeable Mirpuri business community which owns take aways, restaurants, shops and taxi bases to small and medium-sized manufacturing units, legal and financial firms. On the other hand, after the economic hardships faced by the first generation Mirpuri immigrants, their third and fourth generations are moving fast in the new fields of science, technology, arts and social sciences with higher number of youth taking admissions in different universities. The Mirpuri expatriate community has made notable progress in UK politics and a sizeable number of MPs, councillors, lord mayors and deputy mayors are representing the community in different constituencies. The 2005 Kashmir earthquake caused widespread losses in Azad Kashmir, affecting many British Pakistanis.

Many Mirpuri have named their businesses after the Pakistani region. One of the largest companies incorporating such a name is Kashmir Crown Bakeries, which is a food-making business based in Bradford. The company is a major local employer and is the largest Asian food manufacturer in Europe. The owner, Mohammed Saleem, claims that combining traditional Mirpuri baking methods with vocational British training has given his baking business a multimillion-pound turnover.

Punjabis make up the second-largest sub-group of British Pakistanis, estimated to make up a third of that group. With an equally large number from Indian Punjab, two thirds of all British Asians are of Punjabi descent, and they are the largest Punjabi community outside of South Asia, resulting in Punjabi being the third-most commonly spoken language in the UK.

People who came from the Punjab area have integrated much more easily into British society because the Punjab is a mostly prosperous part of Pakistan. Early Punjabi immigrants to Britain tended to have more higher education credentials and found it easier to assimilate because many already had a basic knowledge of the English language (speaking Pakistani English). Research by Teesside University has found that the British Punjabi community of late has become one of the most highly educated and economically successful ethnic minorities in the UK.

Most Pakistani Punjabis living in the UK can trace their roots to the irrigated farms and urban conurbations of northern and central Punjab, including Jhelum, Faisalabad, Sahiwal, Jhang, Toba Tek Singh, Gujar Khan, Attock, Bewal, Chiniot, Chakwal, Sui Cheemian, Sargodha, Gujrat, Sialkot and Gujranwala while more recent immigrants have also arrived from large cities such as Lahore, urban Faisalabad, Islamabad-Rawalpindi and Multan. Additionally, a large number of Muslim Punjabis entered the UK from Kenya and Uganda in the 1970s. These workers were brought to Africa by British colonialists, therefore most held British passports. British Punjabis are commonly found in the south of England, the Midlands and the major cities in the north (with smaller minorities in former mill towns in Lancashire and Yorkshire).

Pakistani Pashtuns (Pathans) in the United Kingdom originate from the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and FATA regions of northwestern Pakistan. A number of estimates exist on the Pashtun population in the UK. Ethnologue estimates that there are up to 87,000 native Pashto-speakers in the UK; this figure also includes Afghan immigrants belonging to the Pashtun ethnicity. Another report shows that there are over 100,000 Pashtuns in Britain, making them the largest Pashtun community in Europe. Major Pashtun settlement in the United Kingdom can be dated over the course of the past five decades. There is a British Pashtun Council which has been formed by the Pashtun community in the UK.

British Pashtuns have continued to maintain ties with Pakistan over the years, taking keen interest in political and socioeconomic developments in northwestern Pakistan. A large number of Pashtun families came from urban cities such as Peshawar, Mardan, Swat, Kohat and Nowshera. There are also smaller communities from other parts of Pakistan, such as Punjabi Pathans from Attock.

There are over 30,000 Sindhis in Britain.

There is a small Baloch community in the UK, originating from the Balochistan province of southwestern Pakistan and neighbouring regions. There are many Baloch associations and groups active in the UK, including the Baloch Students and Youth Association (BSYA), Baloch Cultural Society, Baloch Human Rights Council (UK) and others. Some Baloch political leaders and workers are based in the UK, where they found exile.

There are over 400,000 Urdu-speakers in the UK, some of whom are Muhajirs. Muhajirs originally migrated from present-day India to Pakistan following the partition of British India in 1947. Most of them settled in Pakistan's largest city, Karachi, where they form the demographic majority. Many Muhajir Pakistanis later migrated to Britain, effecting a secondary migration. Altaf Hussain, leader of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM)—the largest political party in Karachi, with its roots lying in the Muhajir community—has been based in England in self-imposed exile since 1992. He is controversially regarded to have virtually "ruled" and "remotely governed" Karachi from his residence in the north London suburb of Edgware.

There is also a sizable Pakistani Hazara community in the UK, concentrated particularly in Milton Keynes, northeastern London, Southampton and Birmingham. A Persian-speaking community originating from central Afghanistan. They migrated to the UK from Quetta and its surroundings, which is historically home to the large Hazara population in Pakistan.

Pakistanis together with Bangladeshis in the UK have poor health by many measures, for instance there is an fivefold rate of diabetes. Pakistani men have the highest rate of heart disease in the UK.

British Pakistanis, male and female, on average claim to have had only one sexual partner. The average British Pakistani male claims to have lost his virginity at the age of 20, the average female at 22, giving an average age of 21. Three-point-two per cent of Pakistani males report that they have been diagnosed with a sexually transmitted infection (STI), compared to 3.6 per cent of Pakistani females. Cultural norms regarding issues such as chastity and marriage have resulted in British Pakistanis having a substantially older age for first intercourse, lower number of partners, and lower STI rates than the national average.

Research in Birmingham in the 1980s suggested that 50-70% of marriages within the Pakistani community were consanguineous. Such consanguinity can double the likelihood of a child suffering from a birth defect from 3% to 6%. Children born to closely related Pakistani parents had an autosomal recessive condition rate of 4% compared to 0.1% for the European group.

Cousin marriages or marriages within the same tribe and clan are common in some parts of South Asia, including rural areas of Pakistan. A major motivation is to preserve patrilineal tribal identity. The tribes to which British Pakistanis belong include Jats, Ahirs, Gujjars, Awans, Arains, Rajputs and several others, all of whom are spread throughout Pakistan and north India. As a result, there are some common genealogical origins within these tribes. Some Mirpuri British Pakistanis view cousin or in-tribe marriages as a way of preserving this ancient tribal tradition and maintaining a sense of brotherhood, an extension of the biradri system which underpins community support networks.

Most British Pakistanis prefer to marry within their own ethnic group, and in 2009, it was estimated that six in ten British Pakistanis choose a spouse from Pakistan.

According to the British Home Office, 38 per cent of the cases of forced marriage investigated in 2014 involved families of Pakistani origin. This was the highest nationality, followed by Indians and Bangladeshis. The Home Office estimates that 79% of cases involved female victims and 21% involved male victims.

Sixty per cent of the Pakistani forced marriages handled by the British High Commission assistance unit in Islamabad are linked to the small towns of Bhimber and Kotli and the city of Mirpur in Azad Kashmir.

According to 2017 data by the Forced Marriage Unit (FMU), a joint effort between the Home Office and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, of the 439 callers related to Pakistan, 78.8% were female and 21.0% were male, 13.7% were under the age of 15 and another 13.0% were aged 16–17. Over 85% of the cases dealt with by the FMU were dealt with entirely in the UK, preventing the marriage before it could take place. Victims were in some cases forced to sponsor a visa for the spouse.

Data from the 2011 census shows that 25% of British Pakistanis in England and Wales hold degree level qualifications, in comparison to 26% of White British people. This has increased since 1991, when the figures for both groups holding a degree were 7% and 13%, respectively. The younger generation of British Pakistanis tends to be more educationally qualified than the older generation. Twenty-eight per cent of British Pakistanis in England and Wales did not have qualifications, compared to 24% of White British people, making them of one of the least qualified major groups.

Pakistani pupils perform similar to the national average at GCSE level when measured by the proportion of pupils gaining five or more GCSEs at grades A* to C. They underperform relative to the national average when measured by the proportion of pupils gaining five or more GCSEs at grades A* to C including English and mathematics, however. The British Pakistani GCSE pass rates does not distinguish the differences in achievement around the country, and Pakistani pupils have greater regional fluctuations than other groups. For example, in 2015, Pakistani pupils from London were achieving above the results for White British pupils regionally and nationally. Seventy-three-point-nine per cent of Pakistani pupils in London achieved five or more A*-C grades, compared to the White British London average of 69.5 per cent in London and 65.9 per cent across England and Wales.

In the London borough of Croydon, 79.7 per cent of Pakistani pupils gained five or more A*-C grades, compared to an average of 77.8 per cent of Indian pupils and 71.3 per cent of White British pupils. These nationwide differences are the result of differences in material circumstances, social class, and migration histories of the different communities which make up British Pakistanis.

In 2012, 46.5% of Pakistani students in England who were eligible for free school meals achieved five or more A*-C GCSE grades including English and mathematics. This figure is 10.2% higher than the national average of 36.3%.

There are several Muslim schools which also cater to British Pakistani pupils.

In 2015, approximately 15,000 British Pakistani students were admitted to university, an increase from 8,460 in 2006. University applicants from regions of predominantly non-Mirpuri settlement, such as Greater London and the South East, are over represented, Greater London by 7.5 per cent and the South East by 4.6 per cent. In contrast, they are under represented by 4.9 per cent in the West Midlands, by 4.4 per cent in the East of England and by 4.3 per cent in Yorkshire and Humber. There is a slight over representation in other regions of between 0.2 per cent to 0.6 per cent. Fifty-one per cent of British Pakistanis choose to continue their studies at the university level. This is higher than the rate for White (38%), Black Caribbean (41%), Mixed (40%), and lower than the rate for Indians (75%) and Bangladeshis (53%). Science and mathematics are the most popular subjects at A level and degree level among the youngest generation of British Pakistanis, as they begin to establish themselves within the field.

In addition, there are over 10,000 Pakistani international students who enrol and study at British universities and educational institutions each year. There are numerous student and cultural associations formed by Pakistani pupils studying at British universities. The Oxford University Pakistan Society is a prominent example of such an association.

Since 2008, thousands of British Pakistani graduates in Britain have been forced to work for low wages due to the rising unemployment and recession in the country. The majority of graduates attended post-1992 universities and graduated without experience. More than 20,000 British Pakistani students who graduated in 2012 were still without jobs six months after graduating. Moreover, an increasing number of university graduates are opting for low-paying minimum wage positions. In 2011 alone, some 10,270 graduates found work as labourers, couriers, office juniors, hospital porters, waiters, bar staff, cleaners, road sweepers and school dinner servers. This was almost double the number in 2008 before the UK recession struck.

Urdu courses are available in the UK and can be studied at GCSE and A level. Urdu degrees are offered in a couple of British universities and institutes, while several others are also hoping to offer courses in Urdu, open to established speakers as well as beginners, in the future. The Punjabi language is also offered at GCSE and A Level, and taught as a course by two universities: SOAS and King's College London. Pashto is presently taught at SOAS and King's College London as well.

Location has had a great impact on the success of British Pakistanis. The existence of a North-South divide leaves those in the north of England economically depressed, although there is a small concentration of more highly educated Pakistanis living in the suburbs of Greater Manchester and the West Midlands, as some Pakistani immigrants have taken advantage of the trading opportunities and entrepreneurial environment which exist in major UK cities. But material deprivation and under-performing schools of the inner city have impeded social mobility for many Mirpuris.

British Pakistanis based in large cities have found making the transition into the professional middle class easier than those based in peripheral towns. This is due to the fact that cities like Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds, Liverpool, Newcastle, Glasgow and Oxford have provided a more economically encouraging environment than the small towns in Lancashire and Yorkshire.

On the other hand, the decline in the British textile boom brought about economic disparities for Pakistanis who worked and settled in the smaller mill towns following the 1960s, with properties failing to appreciate enough and incomes having shrunk.

Most of the initial funds for entrepreneurial activities were historically collected by workers in food processing and clothing factories. The funds were often given a boost by wives saving "pin money" and interest-free loans which were exchanged between fellow migrants. By the 1980s, British Pakistanis began dominating the ethnic and halal food businesses, Indian restaurants, Asian fabric shops, and travel agencies. Other Pakistanis secured ownership of textile manufacturing or wholesale businesses and took advantage of cheap family labour. The once multimillion-pound company Joe Bloggs has such an origin. Clothing imports from Southeast Asia began to affect the financial success of these mill-owning Pakistanis in the 1990s. However, some Pakistani families based in the major cities managed to buck this trend by selling or renting out units in their former factories.

In the housing rental market, Pakistani landlords first rented out rooms to incoming migrants, who were mostly Pakistani themselves. As these renters settled in Britain and prospered to the point where they could afford to buy their own homes, non-Asian university students became the main potential customers to these landlords. By 2000, several British Pakistanis had established low-cost rental properties throughout England. Aneel Mussarat is an example of a property millionaire. His company, MCR Property Group, specialises in renting apartments to university students in Manchester and Liverpool.

British Pakistanis are most likely to live in owner-occupied Victorian terraced houses of the inner city. In the increasing suburban movement amongst Pakistanis living in Britain, this trend is most conspicuous among children of Pakistani immigrants. Pakistanis tend to place a strong emphasis on owning their own home and have one of the highest rates of home ownership in the UK at 73 per cent, slightly higher than that of the white British population.

Many first generation British Pakistanis have invested in second homes or holiday homes in Pakistan. They have purchased houses next to their villages and sometimes even in more expensive cities, such as Islamabad and Lahore. Upon reaching the retirement age, a small number hand over their houses in Britain to their offspring and settle in their second homes in Pakistan. This relocation multiplies the value of their British state pensions. Investing savings in Pakistan has limited the funding available for investing in their UK businesses. In comparison, other migrant groups, such as South Asian migrants from East Africa, have benefited from investing only in Britain.

Statistics from the 2011 census show that Pakistani communities in England particularly in the North and the Midlands, are disproportionately affected by low pay, unemployment and poverty. Thirty-two per cent of British Pakistanis live in a deprived neighbourhood, compared to 10 per cent for England overall. Consequently, many fall within the welfare net. In Scotland however, Pakistanis were less likely to live in a deprived area than the average. Conversely, there were around 100 British Pakistani millionaires in 2001, representing a variety of industries. Sir Anwar Pervez, owner of one of the UK's largest companies, the Bestway group, is the richest British Pakistani and also among the UK's 50 richest people, with assets exceeding £1.5 billion.

In addition, several wealthy Pakistanis including prominent politicians own millions of pounds' worth of assets and properties in the UK, such as holiday homes. In 2017, 19.8 per cent of Pakistani secondary school students were eligible for free school meals, compared to 13.1 per cent of White British pupils. Amongst pupils in Key Stage 1, 14.1 per cent of both Pakistani and White British children were eligible for FSM.

A report for the National Equality Panel found that British Pakistani households have an estimated median total wealth of £97,000, placing them in third place out of the major ethnic groups in the UK. The statistics show the following:

In 2001, around 3,500 British Pakistanis were in the highest ranking business and professional occupations, compared to 1,000 Bangladeshis and 10,000 Indians. Keeping in mind the lower class resources of Mirpuris, the rates of entry of non-Mirpuri Pakistanis into managerial or professional occupations turns out to be similar to that of British Indians. As per General Medical Council statistics for March 2017, 12,883 doctors of Pakistani ethnicity were registered in the UK. A further 8,000 dentists currently work for the NHS. Pakistani-origin doctors make up 4.6 per cent of all doctors in the UK and Pakistan is one of the largest source countries of foreign young doctors in the UK.

Research by the Office for National Statistics shows that British Pakistanis are far more likely to be self-employed than any other ethnic group. Pakistani men are most likely to work in the transport and logistics industry, most as cab drivers and taxi drivers. In 2011, 57 per cent of working-age British Pakistani women were economically inactive, bettering only Bangladeshi and Arab women, and of those who were economically active, 15 per cent were unemployed. Amongst older employed Pakistani women, many work as packers, bottlers, canners, fillers, or sewing machinists. Pakistani women have recently begun to surge into the labour market.

The majority of British Pakistanis are considered to be working or middle class. According to the 2001 Census, 13.8 per cent of Pakistanis living in Great Britain were in managerial or professional occupations, 14 per cent in intermediate occupations, and 23.3 in routine or manual occupations. The remainder were long-term unemployed, students, or not classified due to lack of data. Whilst British Pakistanis living in the Midlands and the North are more likely to be unemployed or suffer from social exclusion, some Pakistani communities in London and the south-east are said to be "fairly prosperous". It was estimated that, in 2001, around 45 per cent of British Pakistanis living in both inner and outer London were middle class.

Notable films that depict the lives of British Pakistanis include "My Beautiful Laundrette", which received a BAFTA award nomination, and the popular "East is East" which won a BAFTA award, a British Independent Film Award and a London Film Critics' Circle Award. "The Infidel" looked at a British Pakistani family living in East London. "The Infidel" depicted religious issues and the identity crisis facing a young member of the family. The film "Four Lions" also looked at issues of religion and extremism. It followed British Pakistanis living in Sheffield in the North of England. The sequel to "East is East", called "West is West" was released in the UK on 25 February 2011.

"Citizen Khan" is a sitcom developed by Adil Ray which is based on a British Pakistani family in Sparkhill, Birmingham, dubbed the "capital of British Pakistan." The soap opera "EastEnders" also features many British Pakistani characters. Pakistani Lollywood films have been screened in British cinemas. Indian Bollywood films are also shown in British cinemas and are popular with many second generation British Pakistanis and British Asians.

BBC has news services in Urdu and Pashto.
In 2005, the BBC showed an evening of programmes under the title "Pakistani, Actually". The programmes offered an insight into the lives of Pakistanis living in Britain and some of the issues faced by the community. The executive producer of the series said, "These documentaries provide just a snapshot of contemporary life among British Pakistanis—a community who are often misunderstood, neglected or stereotyped."

The Pakistani channels of GEO TV, ARY Digital and many others are available to watch on subscription. These channels are based in Pakistan and cater to the Pakistani diaspora, as well as anyone of South Asian origin. They feature news, sports and entertainment, with some channels broadcast in Urdu/Hindi.

Mishal Husain is a newsreader and presenter for the BBC of Pakistani descent. Saira Khan hosts the BBC children's programme "Beat the Boss". Martin Bashir is a Christian Pakistani who worked for ITV, then American Broadcasting Company, before becoming BBC News Religious Affairs correspondent in 2016.

The BBC Asian Network is a radio station available across the entire UK and is aimed at Britons of South Asian origin under 35 years of age. Apart from this popular station, there are many other national radio stations for or run by the British Pakistani community, including Sunrise and Kismat Radios of London. Regional British Pakistani stations include Asian Sound of Manchester, Radio XL and Apni Awaz of Birmingham and Sunrise Radio Yorkshire which based in Bradford. These radio stations generally run programmes in a variety of South Asian languages.

A large proportion of newspaper vendors and newsagents in Britain are run by Indian and Pakistani families. The fact that Pakistanis have traditionally owned newsagents or corner shops is well known in Britain and has led to the term "Paki shop" (although now considered offensive). This foothold in the retail sector has on one occasion been influential for those of the Muslim faith, as the tabloid newspaper "The Daily Star" once planned to publish a spoof page that mocked Sharia law. The special feature, which was to include censored "Burka Babes" and "a free beard for every bomber", was eventually pulled from publication partially because staff at the "Daily Star" discovered that "Many of the newsagents who sell the paper are of Pakistani origin and would have been offended".

The Pakistani newspaper the "Daily Jang" has the largest circulation of any daily Urdu-language newspaper in the world. It is sold at several Pakistani newsagents and grocery stores across the UK. Urdu newspapers, books and other periodical publications are available in libraries which have a dedicated Asian languages service. Examples of British-based newspapers written in English include the "Asian News" (published by Trinity Mirror) and the "Eastern Eye". These are free weekly newspapers aimed at all British Asians. British Pakistanis involved in print media include Sarfraz Manzoor, who is a regular columnist for "The Guardian", one of the largest and most popular newspaper groups in the UK. Anila Baig is a feature writer at "The Sun", the biggest-selling newspaper in the UK.

British Pakistanis are represented in politics at all levels. There are currently twelve British Pakistani MPs in the House of Commons. Notable members have included Shadow Secretary of State for Justice Sadiq Khan and Home Secretary, Sajid Javid, described by "The Guardian" as a 'rising star' in the Tory party. "The Guardian" stated that "The treasury minister is highly regarded on the right and would be the Tories' first Muslim leader." Whereas "The Independent" have stated that Javid could become the next Chancellor of the Exchequer.

Notable British Pakistanis in the House of Lords include Minister for Faith and Communities and former Chairman of the Conservative Party Sayeeda Warsi, Nazir Ahmed, and Lord Tariq Ahmad of Wimbledon. Mohammad Sarwar from Labour was the first Muslim member of the British parliament, being elected for Glasgow in 1997 and serving till 2010. In 2013, Sarwar quit British politics and returned to Pakistan, where he joined the government and briefly served as the Governor of Punjab. Other politicians in Pakistan known to have held dual British citizenship include Rehman Malik, Ishrat-ul-Ibad Khan, and some members of the Pakistani national and provincial legislative assemblies.

In 2007, 257 British Pakistanis were serving as elected councillors or mayors in Britain. British Pakistanis make up a sizeable proportion of British voters and are known to make a difference in elections, both local and national. They are much more active in the voting process, with 67 per cent voting in the last general elections of 2005, compared to just over 60 per cent for the whole country.

Apart from their involvement in domestic politics, the British Pakistani community also maintains keen focus on the politics of Pakistan and has served as an important soft power prerogative in historical, cultural, economic and bilateral relations between Pakistan and the United Kingdom. Major Pakistani political parties such as the Pakistan Muslim League (N), Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, Pakistan Peoples Party, Muttahida Qaumi Movement and others have political chapters and support in the UK.

Some of the most influential names in Pakistani politics are known to have studied, lived or exiled in the UK. London in particular has long served as a hub of Pakistani political activities overseas. The British Mirpuri community has a strong culture of diaspora politics, playing a significant role in advocating the settlement of the Kashmir conflict and raising awareness of human rights issues in Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir. Much of Pakistani lobbying and intelligence operations in the UK are focused on this key diaspora issue.

The Labour Party has traditionally been the natural choice for many British Pakistanis. A 2005 poll carried out by ICM showed that 40 per cent of British Pakistanis intended to vote for Labour, compared to 5 per cent for the Conservative Party and 21 per cent for the Liberal Democrats. The Labour Party are also said to be more dependent on votes from British Pakistanis than the Conservative Party. British Pakistani support for Labour has reportedly fallen in recent times because of party's decision to take part in the Iraq War, although 60 per cent of Pakistani voters voted Labour in the 2010 general election. High-profile British Pakistani politicians within the Labour Party include Shahid Malik and Lord Nazir Ahmed, who became the first Muslim life peer in 1998. Sadiq Khan became the first Muslim cabinet minister in June 2009, after being invited to accept the post by former Prime Minister Gordon Brown. Anas Sarwar served as an MP for Glasgow Central between 2010 and 2015. Shabana Mahmood is the current Labour Chief Secretary to the Treasury.

Some commentators have argued that the Conservative Party has become increasingly popular with some British Pakistanis, as they become more affluent. However, analysis of a representative sample of ethnic Pakistani voters in the 2010 general election from the Ethnic Minority British Election Study shows that 13 per cent of them voted Conservative, compared to 60 per cent Labour and 25 per cent Liberal Democrat. Michael Wade, Chairman of the Conservative Friends of Pakistan, has argued that while polls have showed that only one third of British Pakistani men would never vote Conservative, "the fact is that the Conservative Party has not been successful in reaching out to the British Pakistani community; and so they, in turn, have not looked to the Conservative Party as the one that represents their interests".

The Conservative Friends of Pakistan aims to develop and promote the relationship between the Conservative Party, the British Pakistani community and Pakistan. David Cameron opened a new gym aimed at British Pakistanis in Bolton after being invited by Amir Khan in 2009. Cameron also appointed Tariq Ahmad, Baron Ahmad of Wimbledon, a Mirpuri-born politician, a life peerage. Multi-millionaire Sir Anwar Pervez, who claims to have been born Conservative, has donated large sums to the party. Sir Anwar's donations have entitled him to become a member of the influential Conservative Leader's Group.

Shortly after becoming the Conservative Party leader, Cameron spent two days living with a British Pakistani family in Birmingham. He said that the experience taught him about the challenges of cohesion and integration.

Sajjad Karim is a Member of the European Parliament. He represents North West England through the Conservative Party. In 2005, Karim became the founding Chairman of the European Parliament Friends of Pakistan Group. He is also a member of the Friends of India and Friends of Bangladesh groups. Rehman Chishti became the new Conservative Party MP for Gillingham and Rainham. Sayeeda Warsi was promoted to Chairman of the Conservative Party by the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom shortly after the 2010 UK general election. Warsi was the shadow minister for community cohesion when the Conservatives were in opposition. She is the first Muslim and first Asian woman to serve in a British cabinet. Both of Warsi's grandfathers served with the British Army in the Second World War.

In the 2003 Scottish Parliament elections, Scottish Pakistani voters supported the Scottish National Party (SNP) more than the average Scottish voter. The SNP is a centre-left civil nationalist party that campaigns for the independence of Scotland from the United Kingdom. SNP candidate Bashir Ahmad was elected to the Scottish Parliament to represent Glasgow at the 2007 election, becoming the first Member of the Scottish Parliament to be elected with a Scottish Asian background.

Salma Yaqoob is the former leader of the left-wing, anti-Zionist Respect Party. The small party has seen success in areas such as Sparkbrook in Birmingham and Newham in London, where there are large Pakistani populations. Qassim Afzal is a senior Liberal Democrat politician of Pakistani origin. In 2009 he accompanied the then Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom to meetings with Pakistan's President, Asif Ali Zardari.

There has been ubiquitous media coverage since the War on Terror, both factual and satirical, focusing on young radical British Pakistanis and the topic of Islamic extremism.

Gareth Price, head of the Asia Program at the Royal Institute of International Affairs in London stated that young British Pakistanis are more likely to be radicalised compared with other Muslim communities in Britain. In 2008, the British government launched its Prevent Strategy which aims to combat "violent extremism" within British Islamic communities. The initiative has given grants and financial support to community projects. Fifty-three million pounds was spent on the strategy between 2007 and 2010.

The chance of a Pakistani being racially attacked in a year is greater than 4 per cent—the highest rate in the country, along with British Bangladeshis—though this has come down from 8 per cent a year in 1996. The term "Paki" is often used as a racist slur to describe Pakistanis and can also be directed towards non-Pakistani South Asians. There have been some attempts by the youngest generation of British Pakistanis to reclaim the word and use it in a non-offensive way to refer to themselves, though this remains controversial.

In 2001 riots occurred in Bradford. Two reasons given for the riots were social deprivation and the actions of extreme right wing groups such as the National Front (NF). The Anti-Nazi League held a counter protest to a proposed march by the NF leading to clashes between police and the local South Asian population, with the majority of those being involved being of Pakistani descent.

Starting in the late 1960s, and peaking in the 1970s and 1980s, violent gangs opposed to immigration took part in frequent attacks known as "Paki-bashing", which targeted and assaulted Pakistanis and other South Asians. "Paki-bashing" was unleashed after Enoch Powell's inflammatory Rivers of Blood speech in 1968, and peaked during the 1970s1980s, with the attacks mainly linked to far-right fascist, racist and anti-immigrant movements, including the white power skinheads, the National Front, and the British National Party (BNP).

These attacks were usually referred to as either "Paki-bashing" or "skinhead terror", with the attackers usually called "Paki-bashers" or "skinheads". "Paki-bashing" was also fueled by the British media's anti-immigrant and anti-Pakistani rhetoric at the time, and by systemic failures of state authorities, which included under-reporting of racist attacks, the criminal justice system not taking racist attacks seriously, and racial harassment by police.

Muhajirs are also called "Urdu Speaking people". Muhajirs are a collective multiethnic group, which emerged by the migration of Indian Muslims from various parts of India to Pakistan starting in 1947, as a result of world's largest mass migration. Majority of Muhajirs are settled in Sindh mainly in Karachi, Hyderabad, Sukkur and Mirpur Khas. But there are other parts of Pakistan, including cities like Lahore, Multan, Islamabad, Peshawar where Muhajirs have sizable community.Muhajirs held a dominating position during the nation building early years of Pakistan. Most Muslim politicians of pre-independence era who supported the Pakistan movement were Urdu speakers.The term Muhajir is also used for descendants of Muslims who migrated to Pakistan after the 1947 partition of India.

Ethnic groups in Pakistan

The major ethnic groups of Pakistan in numerical size include: Punjabis, Pashtuns, Sindhis, Siddis, Saraikis, Muhajirs, Baloch, Hindkowans, Chitralis, Gujarati and other smaller groups. Smaller ethnic groups, such as Kashmiris, Kalash, Burusho, Khowar,Hazara, Shina, Kalyu and Balti are mainly found in the northern parts of the country.

Pakistan's census does not include the 1.7 million citizens of Afghanistan, who are mainly found in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) areas, with small numbers in the cities of Karachi and Quetta. Most of this group were born inside Pakistan in the last 30 years and are ethnic Pakhtuns.

The Sindhis are an Indo-Aryan ethno-linguistic group who speak the Sindhi language and are native to the Sindh province of Pakistan which was previously a part of pre-partition British India. Sindhis are predominantly Muslim.

Sindhi Muslim culture is highly influenced by Sufi doctrines and principles. Some of the popular cultural icons are Shah Abdul Latif Bhitai, Lal Shahbaz Qalandar, Jhulelal, Sachal Sarmast and Shambumal Tulsiani.

Punjabis are numbered as 91 million and they are the largest ethnic group in Pakistan by population. The Punjabis found in Pakistan belong to groups known as biradaris. In addition, Punjabi society is divided into two divisions, the zamindar groups or qoums, traditionally associated with farming and the moeens, who are traditionally artisans. Some zamindars are further divided into groups such as the Rajputs, Jats, Shaikhs or Muslim Khatris, Khandowas, Gujjars, Awans, Arains and Syeds. People from neighbouring regions, such as Kashmiris, Pashtuns and Baluch, also form sizeable portion of the Punjabi population. A large number of punjabis descend from the groups historically associated with skilled professions and crafts such as Sunar, Lohar, Kumhar, Tarkhan, Julaha, Mochi, Hajjam, Chhimba Darzi, Teli, Lalari, Qassab, Mallaah, Dhobi, Mirasi etc.

Pashtuns or Pukhtuns (sometimes "Pathans") an Iranic ethnic group, are Pakistan's second largest ethnic group that are native to the land principally northwest of the Indus River for the past five thousand years. They also reside in many major cities of Pakistan. They speak Pashto, an Iranian language. They make up an estimated 30 million of Pakistan's total population.

The Baloch as an ethnic group are principally found in the east of Balochistan province of Pakistan. Despite living south towards the Gulf of Oman and the Arabian sea for centuries, they are classified as a northwestern Iranic people in accordance to their language which belongs to the northwestern subgroup of Iranic languages.

According to Dr. Akhtar Baloch, Professor at University of Karachi, the Balochis migrated from Balochistan during the Little Ice Age and settled in Sindh and Punjab. The Little Ice Age is conventionally defined as a period extending from the sixteenth to the nineteenth centuries, or alternatively, from about 1300 to about 1850. Although climatologists and historians working with local records no longer expect to agree on either the start or end dates of this period, which varied according to local conditions. According to Professor Baloch, the climate of Balochistan was very cold and the region was inhabitable during the winter so the Baloch people migrated in waves and settled in Sindh and Punjab.

Kashmiri are ethnic group native to the Kashmir Valley and Azad Kashmir. The majority of Kashmiri Muslims are Sunni. They refer to themselves as "Kashur" in their mother language. Kashmiri Muslims are descended from Kashmiri Hindus and are also known as 'Sheikhs'. Presently, the Kashmiri Muslim population is predominantly found in Kashmir Valley. Smaller Kashmiri communities also live in other regions of the Jammu and Kashmir state. One significant population of Kashmiris is in the Chenab valley region, which comprises the Doda, Ramban and Kishtwar districts of Jammu. There are also ethnic Kashmiri populations inhabiting Neelam Valley and Leepa Valley of Azad Kashmir. Since 1947, many ethnic Kashmiri Muslims also live in Pakistan. Many ethnic Kashmiri Muslims from the Kashmir Valley also migrated to the Punjab region during Dogra and Sikh rule and adopted the Punjabi language. Surnames used by Kashmiris living in Punjab include Dar (Dhar), Butt (Bhat), lone, Mir, Khuwaja (a term used by converts just like sheikh), Wain (Wani), Sheikh (Saprus), etc. Kashmiri language, or Kashur, belongs to the Dardic group and is the most widely spoken dardic language.
Bengalis form at least 1% of Pakistani population. Bengalis are the people who speaks Bengali, the 8th most spoken language in the world. Their roots in Pakistan dates back to 1940s when the eastern part of Bangladesh joined Pakistan. In the period 1947-1971, many Bangladeshis migrated to Pakistan. Some returned to Bangladesh after its independence, whereas some of them stack to there. The examples of Pakistani Bangladeshis are Jharna Basak, Runa Laila, Robin Ghosh etc. who hugely contributed to the film and music of Pakistan.

The Brahui or Brahvi people are a Pakistani ethnic group of about 2.2 million people with the vast majority found in Balochistan, Pakistan. They are a small minority group in Afghanistan, where they are native, but they are also found through their diaspora in Middle Eastern states. They mainly occupy the area in Balochistan from Bolan Pass through the Bolan Hills to Ras Muari (Cape Monze) on the Arabian sea, separating the Baloch people living to the east and west. The Brahuis are almost entirely Sunni Muslims.

The Saraikis also known as Multanis, are an ethnolinguistic group in central and southeastern Pakistan, primarily southern Punjab. Their language is Saraiki.

The Hazara people, natives to the present day Hazarajat (Hazaristan), are a Persian-speaking people mostly residing in all Pakistan and specially in Quetta. Some are citizens of Pakistan while others are refugees. Genetically, the Hazara are a mixture of Turko-Mongols and Iranian-speaking peoples, and those of Middle East and Central Asia. The genetic research suggests that they are closely related to the Eurasian and the Uyghurs. The Pakistani Hazaras estimated population is believed to be more than 1,550,000.

The Burusho or Brusho people live in the Hunza and Yasin valleys of Gilgit–Baltistan in northern Pakistan. They are predominantly Muslims. Their language, Burushki, has not been shown to be related to any other language.
The Hunzakuts or Hunza people, are an ethnically Burusho people indigenous to the Hunza Valley, in the Karakorum Mountains of northern Pakistan. They are descended from inhabitants of the former principality of Hunza. The Hunzas are predominantly Shia Muslims, with many of them Ismaili.

The Muhajir people (also spelled Mahajir and Mohajir) () are Muslim immigrants, of multi-ethnic origin, and their descendants, who migrated from various regions of India after the independence of Pakistan. Although many of them speak different languages at the native level, they are primarily identified as native Urdu speakers and hence are called Urdu-speaking people. The term Muhajirs generally refers to those Muslim migrants from India who settled in urban Sindh.

Muhajir people

The Urdu term "muhājir" () comes from the Arabic "muhājir" (), meaning an "immigrant", and the term is associated in early Islamic history to the migration of Muslims. After the independence of Pakistan, a significant number of Muslims emigrated or were out-migrated from territory that remained India. In the aftermath of partition, a huge population exchange occurred between the two newly formed states. In the riots which preceded the partition in the Punjab region, between 200,000 and 2 000,000 people were killed in the retributive genocide. UNHCR estimates 14 million Hindus, Sikhs and Muslims were displaced during the partition; it was the largest mass migration in human history.

Most of those migrants who settled in the Punjab province of Pakistan came from present day Indian states of Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, and Delhi while others were from Jammu and Kashmir, Rajasthan and the United Provinces.

Migrants who moved to the Sindh province of Pakistan came from what then were the British Indian provinces of Bombay, Central Provinces, Berar, and the United Provinces, as well as the princely states of Hyderabad, Baroda, Kutch and the Rajputana Agency. Most of these migrants settled in the towns and cities of Sindh, such as Karachi, Hyderabad, Sukkur and Mirpurkhas.

Many who spoke Urdu, or dialects of the language such as Dakhani, Khariboli, Awadhi, Bhojpuri, Mewati, Sadri, Marwari, and Haryanvi and became commonly known as Muhajirs. Over a period of a few decades, these disparate groups sharing the common experience of migration, and political opposition to the military regime of Ayub Khan and his civilian successor Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto evolved or assimilated into a distinct ethnic grouping.

Prior to 1857, British territories were controlled by the East India Company. The company maintained the fiction of running the territories on behalf of the Mughal empire.The crushing defeat of Mutineers in 1857 -1858 led to the abolition of the Mughal empire and the British government taking direct control of the Indian territories. In the immediate aftermath of the rebellion, upper-class Muslim were targeted by the British, as some of the leadership for the war came from this community based in areas around Delhi and what is now Uttar Pradesh; thousands of them and their families were shot, hanged or blown by cannon. According to Mirza Ghalib, even women were not spared because the rebel soldiers disguised themselves as women.

The Pakistan movement, to constitute a separate state comprising the Muslim-majority provinces, was pioneered by the Muslim elite and many notables of the Aligarh Movement. It was initiated in the 19th century when Sir Syed Ahmed Khan expounded the cause of Muslim autonomy in Aligarh. Many Muslim nobles such as nawabs (aristocrats and landed gentry) supported the idea. As the idea spread, it gained great support amongst 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 All India Muslim League (the founding party of Pakistan) was based there since its creation in 1906 in Dhaka (present day Bangladesh). The Muslim League won 90 percent 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.

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. Punjabi Muslims from East Punjab crossed to West Punjab and settled in a culturally and linguistically similar environment.

The migration to Sindh was of a different nature to that in Punjab as the migrants to Sindh were ethnically heterogenous and were linguistically different to the locals. 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. The migrants, who were urban, also tended to regard the local Sindhis as backwards and subservient to landowners.

Prior to the partition, the majority of urban Sindh's population had been Hindu but after the independence of Pakistan in 1947, the majority of Sindh's Hindus migrated to India, although a substantial number of Hindus did remain in Sindh. 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 percent of the population of Karachi, 65 percent in Hyderabad and 55 percent in Sukkur. As Karachi was the capital of the new nation, educated urban migrants from Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Bombay, Bihar and Hyderabad Deccan preferred it as their site of settlement for better access to employment opportunities. The migrants were compensated for their properties lost in India by being granted the evacuee property left behind by the departing Hindus. A sizable community of Malayali Muslims (the Mappila), originally from Kerala in South India, also settled in Karachi. The partition brought about quite exceptional circumstances that facilitated the implementaion of these strategies.

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 centres of Sindh.

In 1959 the International Labour Organisation (ILO) published a report stating that between the period of 1951-1956, a number of 650,000 Muslims from India relocated to West Pakistan. However, Visaria (1969) raised doubts about the authenticity of the claims about Indian Muslim migration to Pakistan, since the 1961 Census of Pakistan did not corroborate these figures. 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 the 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 the 15th of October to the end of October, 1,247 went by this route. From the 1st 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 the two countries. The Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru once again expressed concern at the continued migration of Indian Muslims to West Pakistan in a communication to one of his chief ministers (dated 1, December 1953):A fair number of Muslims cross over to Pakistan from India, via Rajasthan and Sindh daily. Why do these Muslims cross over to Pakistan at the rate of three to four thousand a month? This is worth enquiring into, because it is not to our credit that this should be so. Mostly they come from Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan or Delhi. It is evident that they do not go there unless there is some fear or pressure on them. Some may go in the hope of employment there. But most of them appear to feel that there is no great future for them in India. I have already drawn your attention to difficulties in the way of Government service. Another reason, I think, is the fear of Evacuee Property Laws [EPL]. I have always considered these laws both in India and Pakistan as most iniquitous. In trying to punish a few guilty persons, we punish or injure large numbers of perfectly innocent people...the pressure of the Evacuee Property Laws applies to almost all Muslims in certain areas of India. They cannot easily dispose of their property or carry on trade for fear that the long arm of this law might hold them down in its grip. It is this continuing fear that comes in the way of normal functioning and normal business and exercises a powerful pressure on large numbers of Muslims in India, especially in the North and the West.In 1952 the passport system was introduced for travel purposes between the two countries. This made it possible for Indian Muslims to legally move to Pakistan. Pakistan still required educated and skill workers to absorb into its economy at the time, due to relatively low levels of education in the regions which became part of 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 India-East Pakistani border. Once reaching Dhaka, most made their way to the final destination-Karachi. However, not all managed to reach West Pakistan from East Pakistan.

A large number of Urdu-speaking Muslims from Bihar went to East Pakistan after independence of India and Pakistan in 1947. 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, 178,00 have been repatriated. In 2015, the Pakistani government stated that the remaining 'Stranded Pakistanis' are not its responsibility but rather the responsibility of Bangladesh.

The third stage which lasted between 1973 and the 1990s was when migration levels of Indian Muslims to Pakistan was reduced to its lowest levels since 1947.

Indian Muslim migration to Pakistan had declined drastically by the 1970s, a trend noticed by the Pakistani authorities. On June 1995, Pakistan's interior minister, Naseerullah Babar, informed the National Assembly that between the period of 1973-1994, as many as 800,000 visitors came from India on valid travel documents. Of these only 3,393 stayed back. In a related trend, intermarriages between Indian and Pakistani Muslims have declined sharply. According to a November 1995 statement of Riaz Khokhar, the Pakistani High Commissioner in New Delhi, the number of cross-border marriages has declined from 40,000 a year in the 1950s and 1960s to barely 300 annually.

The Muhajirs (Urdu-speakers) of Pakistan were largely settled in the 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. The Muhajirs, upon their arrival in Pakistan, soon joined the Punjabi-dominated ruling elite of the new-born country due to their high rates of education and urban background. They possessed the required expertise for running Pakistan's nascent bureaucracy and economy. Although the Muhajirs were, socially, urbane and liberal they sided with the country's religious political parties such as Jamiat Ulema-i-Pakistan (JUP).

The dichotomy between the Muhajirs’ social and political dispositions was a result of the sense of insecurity that the community felt in a country where the majority of its inhabitants were ‘natives.’ Lacking the historical and cultural roots of native Pakistani ethnicities, the Mohajirs backed the state's project of constructing a homogenous national identity that repulsed ethnic sentiment. The Mohajirs also echoed the views of the religious parties that eschewed pluralism and ethnic identities and propagated a holistic national unity based on the commonality of the Islamic faith followed by the majority of Pakistanis. 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. With the Baloch, Bengali and Sindhi nationalists distancing themselves from the state's narratives of nationhood, Ayub (a poor pathan tribal from what is now named Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province), slowly began to pull the impoverished Pakhtuns into the mainstream areas of the economy and politics. This caused the Muhajirs’ to agitate against the Ayub dictatorship from the early 1960s onwards.

Muhajirs had decisively lost their place in the ruling elite, but they were still an economic force to reckon with (especially in urban Sindh). When a Sindhi, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, became the country's head of state in December 1971, the Muhajirs feared that they would be further side-lined, this time by the economic and political resurgence of Sindhis under Bhutto. In response the Mohajirs enthusiastically participated in the 1977 right-wing movement against the Bhutto regime (which was largely led by the religious parties). The movement was particularly strong among Karachi's middle and lower-middle-classes (and aggressively backed by industrialists, traders and the shopkeepers).

Upon arrival in Pakistan, the Muhajirs did not assert themselves as a separate ethnic identity 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.

Many Urdu-speaking people had higher education and civil service experience from working for the British Raj and Muslim princely states. Out of the 101 Muslims in India's civil service, 95 chose to leave India. A third of those civil servants were Punjabis but there were many Muhajirs among them too. From 1947 to 1958, Urdu-speaking Muhajirs held more jobs in the Government of Pakistan than their proportion in the country's population (3.3%). In 1951, of the 95 senior civil services jobs, 33 were held by Urdu-speaking people and 40 by 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.

Gradually, as education became more widespread, Sindhis and Pashtuns, as well as other ethnic groups, started to take their fair share of the pool in the bureaucracy. But even by the early 1960s, 34.5 percent of Pakistan's civil servants were those who had not been born in the territory comprising Pakistan in 1947, many of them were born in the United Provinces.

On 27 October 1958, General Ayub Khan stage a coup and imposed martial law across Pakistan. The dichotomy between the Muhajirs’ social and political dispositions was a result of the sense of insecurity that the community felt in a country where the majority of its inhabitants were ‘natives.’ Lacking the historical and cultural roots of native Pakistani ethnicity, the Mohajirs backed the state's project of constructing a homogeneous national identity that repulsed ethnic sentiment. The Mohajirs also echoed the views of the religious parties that eschewed pluralism and ethnic identities and propagated a holistic national unity based on the commonality of the Islamic faith followed by the majority of Pakistanis. 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. With the Baloch, Bengali and Sindhi nationalists distancing themselves from the state's narratives of nationhood, Ayub (who hailed from what is now the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province), slowly began to pull the Pakhtuns into the mainstream areas of the economy and politics. This caused the Muhajirs’ to agitate against the Ayub dictatorship from the early 1960s onwards.

The percentage of Urdu-speaking people in the civil service declined while the percentage of Pashtuns in it increased. In the presidential election of 1965, the Muslim League split in 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 Urdu-speaking people had supported the Muslim League before the independence of Pakistan in 1947 and now supported the Muslim League of Fatima Jinnah. 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 Urdu-speaking people 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.

The Pakistani general election, 1970 on 7 December 1970, Awami League won the elections. The Urdu-speaking people voted for the Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan and Jamiat Ulema-e-Pakistan. Muhajirs had decisively lost their place in the ruling elite, but they were still an economic force to reckon with (especially in urban Sindh). When a Sindhi, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, became the country's head of state in December 1971, the Muhajirs feared that they would be further side-lined, this time by the economic and political resurgence of Sindhis under Bhutto.

The Pakistan Peoples Party government nationalization the financial industry, educational institutions and industry. The nationalization of Pakistan's educational institutions, financial institutions and industry in 1972 by Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto of Pakistan Peoples Party impacted the Muhajirs hardest as their educational institutions, commerce and industries were nationalized without any compensation. Subsequently, the quota system was introduced and this limited their access to education and employment.

In 1972 language riots broke out between Sindhis and Urdu-speakers after the passage of the "Teaching, Promotion and use of Sindhi Language" bill in July 1972 by the Sindh Assembly; which declared Sindhi as the only official language of Sindh. Due to the clashes, Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto compromised and announced that Urdu and Sindhi would both be official languages of Sindh. The making of Sindhi as an equal language to Urdu for official purposes frustrated the Urdu-speaking people as they did not speak the Sindhi language.

In the 1977 Pakistani general election, Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan and Jamiat Ulema-e-Pakistan joined in a coalition named the Pakistan National Alliance. The Mohajirs enthusiastically participated in the 1977 right-wing movement against the Bhutto regime (which was largely led by the religious parties). The movement was particularly strong among Karachi's middle and lower-middle-classes (and aggressively backed by industrialists, traders and the shopkeepers). The Urdu-speaking people voted mostly for the Pakistan National Alliance. The alleged electoral fraud by Pakistan Peoples Party caused protests across the country. On 5 July 1977, Chief of Army Staff General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq led a coup d'état against Bhutto and imposed martial law.

Zain Noorani, a prominent member of the Memon community, was appointed as Minister of State for Foreign affairs with the status of a Federal Minister in 1985.

Christophe Jaffrelot says that, as per the 1951 census, Muhajirs in the generic sense constituted 6.3 million souls, or one-fifth of the total population of 33.7 million, but the towering majority were from East Punjab, India, who migrated into West Punjab, Pakistan, not constituting a different community because of obvious ethnic similarities, and in fact not using the "Muhajir" tag anymore ; the Muhajirs in the more accepted formal sense, that is diverse set of communities from Hindu-majority provinces which eventually adopted Urdu and formed a socio-linugistic group of its own, were numbered at around 1.2 million, 1.1 million being from Uttar Pradesh, Bombay Presidency, Delhi, Rajasthan and Gujarat who went to West Pakistan, while 100 000 Biharis went to East Pakistan, now Bangladesh.

Muhajir people

The Muhajir people (also spelled Mahajir and Mohajir) () are Muslim immigrants, of multi-ethnic origin, and their descendants, who migrated from various regions of India after the independence of Pakistan. Although many of them speak different languages at the native level, they are primarily identified as native Urdu speakers and hence are called Urdu-speaking people. The term Muhajirs generally refers to those Muslim migrants from India who settled in urban Sindh.

The Urdu term "muhājir" () comes from the Arabic "muhājir" (), meaning an "immigrant", and the term is associated in early Islamic history to the migration of Muslims. After the independence of Pakistan, a significant number of Muslims emigrated or were out-migrated from territory that remained India. In the aftermath of partition, a huge population exchange occurred between the two newly formed states. In the riots which preceded the partition in the Punjab region, between 200,000 and 2 000,000 people were killed in the retributive genocide. UNHCR estimates 14 million Hindus, Sikhs and Muslims were displaced during the partition; it was the largest mass migration in human history.

Most of those migrants who settled in the Punjab province of Pakistan came from present day Indian states of Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, and Delhi while others were from Jammu and Kashmir, Rajasthan and the United Provinces.

Migrants who moved to the Sindh province of Pakistan came from what then were the British Indian provinces of Bombay, Central Provinces, Berar, and the United Provinces, as well as the princely states of Hyderabad, Baroda, Kutch and the Rajputana Agency. Most of these migrants settled in the towns and cities of Sindh, such as Karachi, Hyderabad, Sukkur and Mirpurkhas.

Many who spoke Urdu, or dialects of the language such as Dakhani, Khariboli, Awadhi, Bhojpuri, Mewati, Sadri, Marwari, and Haryanvi and became commonly known as Muhajirs. Over a period of a few decades, these disparate groups sharing the common experience of migration, and political opposition to the military regime of Ayub Khan and his civilian successor Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto evolved or assimilated into a distinct ethnic grouping.

Prior to 1857, British territories were controlled by the East India Company. The company maintained the fiction of running the territories on behalf of the Mughal empire.The crushing defeat of Mutineers in 1857 -1858 led to the abolition of the Mughal empire and the British government taking direct control of the Indian territories. In the immediate aftermath of the rebellion, upper-class Muslim were targeted by the British, as some of the leadership for the war came from this community based in areas around Delhi and what is now Uttar Pradesh; thousands of them and their families were shot, hanged or blown by cannon. According to Mirza Ghalib, even women were not spared because the rebel soldiers disguised themselves as women.

The Pakistan movement, to constitute a separate state comprising the Muslim-majority provinces, was pioneered by the Muslim elite and many notables of the Aligarh Movement. It was initiated in the 19th century when Sir Syed Ahmed Khan expounded the cause of Muslim autonomy in Aligarh. Many Muslim nobles such as nawabs (aristocrats and landed gentry) supported the idea. As the idea spread, it gained great support amongst 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 All India Muslim League (the founding party of Pakistan) was based there since its creation in 1906 in Dhaka (present day Bangladesh). The Muslim League won 90 percent 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.

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. Punjabi Muslims from East Punjab crossed to West Punjab and settled in a culturally and linguistically similar environment.

The migration to Sindh was of a different nature to that in Punjab as the migrants to Sindh were ethnically heterogenous and were linguistically different to the locals. 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. The migrants, who were urban, also tended to regard the local Sindhis as backwards and subservient to landowners.

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 centres of Sindh.

A large number of Urdu-speaking Muslims from Bihar went to East Pakistan after independence of India and Pakistan in 1947. 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, 178,00 have been repatriated. In 2015, the Pakistani government stated that the remaining 'Stranded Pakistanis' are not its responsibility but rather the responsibility of Bangladesh.

The third stage which lasted between 1973 and the 1990s was when migration levels of Indian Muslims to Pakistan was reduced to its lowest levels since 1947.

Indian Muslim migration to Pakistan had declined drastically by the 1970s, a trend noticed by the Pakistani authorities. On June 1995, Pakistan's interior minister, Naseerullah Babar, informed the National Assembly that between the period of 1973-1994, as many as 800,000 visitors came from India on valid travel documents. Of these only 3,393 stayed back. In a related trend, intermarriages between Indian and Pakistani Muslims have declined sharply. According to a November 1995 statement of Riaz Khokhar, the Pakistani High Commissioner in New Delhi, the number of cross-border marriages has declined from 40,000 a year in the 1950s and 1960s to barely 300 annually.

The Muhajirs (Urdu-speakers) of Pakistan were largely settled in the 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. The Muhajirs, upon their arrival in Pakistan, soon joined the Punjabi-dominated ruling elite of the new-born country due to their high rates of education and urban background. They possessed the required expertise for running Pakistan's nascent bureaucracy and economy. Although the Muhajirs were, socially, urbane and liberal they sided with the country's religious political parties such as Jamiat Ulema-i-Pakistan (JUP).

Muhajirs had decisively lost their place in the ruling elite, but they were still an economic force to reckon with (especially in urban Sindh). When a Sindhi, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, became the country's head of state in December 1971, the Muhajirs feared that they would be further side-lined, this time by the economic and political resurgence of Sindhis under Bhutto. In response the Mohajirs enthusiastically participated in the 1977 right-wing movement against the Bhutto regime (which was largely led by the religious parties). The movement was particularly strong among Karachi's middle and lower-middle-classes (and aggressively backed by industrialists, traders and the shopkeepers).

Upon arrival in Pakistan, the Muhajirs did not assert themselves as a separate ethnic identity 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.

Many Urdu-speaking people had higher education and civil service experience from working for the British Raj and Muslim princely states. Out of the 101 Muslims in India's civil service, 95 chose to leave India. A third of those civil servants were Punjabis but there were many Muhajirs among them too. From 1947 to 1958, Urdu-speaking Muhajirs held more jobs in the Government of Pakistan than their proportion in the country's population (3.3%). In 1951, of the 95 senior civil services jobs, 33 were held by Urdu-speaking people and 40 by 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.

Gradually, as education became more widespread, Sindhis and Pashtuns, as well as other ethnic groups, started to take their fair share of the pool in the bureaucracy. But even by the early 1960s, 34.5 percent of Pakistan's civil servants were those who had not been born in the territory comprising Pakistan in 1947, many of them were born in the United Provinces.

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.

The Pakistani general election, 1970 on 7 December 1970, Awami League won the elections. The Urdu-speaking people voted for the Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan and Jamiat Ulema-e-Pakistan. Muhajirs had decisively lost their place in the ruling elite, but they were still an economic force to reckon with (especially in urban Sindh). When a Sindhi, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, became the country's head of state in December 1971, the Muhajirs feared that they would be further side-lined, this time by the economic and political resurgence of Sindhis under Bhutto.

The Pakistan Peoples Party government nationalization the financial industry, educational institutions and industry. The nationalization of Pakistan's educational institutions, financial institutions and industry in 1972 by Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto of Pakistan Peoples Party impacted the Muhajirs hardest as their educational institutions, commerce and industries were nationalized without any compensation. Subsequently, the quota system was introduced and this limited their access to education and employment.

In 1972 language riots broke out between Sindhis and Urdu-speakers after the passage of the "Teaching, Promotion and use of Sindhi Language" bill in July 1972 by the Sindh Assembly; which declared Sindhi as the only official language of Sindh. Due to the clashes, Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto compromised and announced that Urdu and Sindhi would both be official languages of Sindh. The making of Sindhi as an equal language to Urdu for official purposes frustrated the Urdu-speaking people as they did not speak the Sindhi language.

Zain Noorani, a prominent member of the Memon community, was appointed as Minister of State for Foreign affairs with the status of a Federal Minister in 1985.

Much of Karachi's citizenry descend from Urdu-speaking migrants from North India who became known by the Arabic term for "Migrant" – Muhajir. The first Muhajirs of Karachi arrived in 1946 in the aftermath of the Great Calcutta Killings and subsequent 1946 Bihar riots. The city's wealthy Hindus opposed the resettlement of refugees near their homes, and so many refugees were accommodated in the older and more congested parts of Karachi. The city witnessed a large influx of Muhajirs following Partition, who were drawn to the port city and newly designated federal capital for its white-collar job opportunities. Muhajirs continued to migrate to Pakistan throughout the 1950s and early 1960s, with Karachi remaining the primary destination of Indian Muslim migrants throughout those decades. The Muhajir Urdu-speaking community in the 2017 census forms slightly less than 45% of the city's population. Muhajirs form the bulk of Karachi's middle class. Muhajirs are regarded as the city's most secular community, while other minorities such as Christians and Hindus increasingly regard themselves as part of the Muhajir community.

Karachi

Karachi (; ALA-LC:, ; ) is the capital of the Pakistani province of Sindh. It is the most populous city in Pakistan, and fifth-most-populous city proper in the world. Ranked as a beta world city, the city is Pakistan's premier industrial and financial centre and is considered as the cultural, economic, philanthropic, educational, and political hub of the country. Karachi is also Pakistan's most cosmopolitan city. Situated on the Arabian Sea, Karachi serves as a transport hub, and is home to Pakistan's two largest seaports, the Port of Karachi and Port Bin Qasim, as well as the Pakistan's busiest airport, Jinnah International Airport.

Though the Karachi region has been inhabited for millennia, the city was founded as the fortified village of "Kolachi" in 1729. The settlement drastically increased in importance with the arrival of British East India Company in the mid 19th century, who not only embarked on major works to transform the city into a major seaport, but also connected it with their extensive railway network. By the time of the Partition of British India, the city was the largest in Sindh with an estimated population of 400,000. Following the independence of Pakistan, the city's population increased dramatically with the arrival of millions of Muslim refugees from India. The city experienced rapid economic growth following independence, attracting migrants from throughout Pakistan and South Asia.

Karachi is one of Pakistan's most secular and socially liberal cities. It is also the most linguistically, ethnically, and religiously diverse city in Pakistan. Karachi’s population was enumerated at 14.9 million in the 2017 census, though the figure was immediately disputed by various factions as a severe underestimate, with some sources estimating a population of nearly 20 million. Karachi is one of the world's fastest growing cities, and has communities representing almost every ethnic group in Pakistan. Karachi is home to over 2 million Bangladeshi immigrants, 1 million Afghan refugees, and up to 400,000 Rohingyas from Myanmar.

Karachi is now Pakistan's premier industrial and financial centre. The city has a formal economy estimated to be worth $113 billion which is the largest in Pakistan. Karachi collects over a third of Pakistan's tax revenue, and generates approximately 20% of Pakistan's GDP. Approximately 30% of Pakistani industrial output is from Karachi, while Karachi's ports handle approximately 95% of Pakistan's foreign trade. Approximately 90% of the multinational corporations operating in Pakistan are headquartered in Karachi. Karachi is considered to be Pakistan’s fashion capital, and has hosted the annual Karachi Fashion week since 2009.

Karachi was reputedly founded in 1729 as the settlement of "Kolachi". The new settlement is said to have been named in honour of Mai Kolachi, whose son is said to have slain a man-eating crocodile in the village after his elder brothers had already been killed by it.

The city's inhabitants are referred to by the demonym "Karachiite" in English, and "Karāchīwālā" in Urdu.

Late Palaeolithic and Mesolithic sites discovered by a team from Karachi University on the Mulri Hills constitute one of the most important archaeological discoveries made in Sindh during the last 50 years. The earliest inhabitants of the Karachi region are believed to have been hunter-gatherers, with ancient flint tools discovered at several sites. A sea port called Barbarikon by the Greeks was situated in Karachi.

The Karachi region is believed to have been known to the ancient Greeks. The region may be the site of Krokola, where Alexander the Great once camped to prepare a fleet for Babylonia, as well as Morontobara which may possibly be Karachi's Manora neighbourhood.

In 711 CE, Muhammad bin Qasim conquered the Sindh and Indus Valley. The Karachi region is believed to have been known to the Arabs as Debal, from where Muhammad Bin Qasim launched his forces into South Asia in 712 C.E.

Under Mirza Ghazi Beg, the Mughal administrator of Sindh, the development of coastal Sindh and the Indus delta was encouraged. Under his rule, fortifications in the region acted as a bulwark against Portuguese incursions into Sindh. The Ottoman admiral, Seydi Ali Reis, mentioned Debal and Manora Island in his book Mir'ât ül Memâlik in 1554.

Karachi was founded in 1729 as the settlement of "Kolachi" under the rule of the ethnically Baloch Talpur Mirs of Sindh. The founders of the settlement are said to arrived from the nearby town of Karak Bandar after the harbour there silted in 1728 after heavy rains. The settlement was fortified, and defended with cannons imported by Sindhi sailors from Muscat, Oman. The name "Karachee" was used for the first time in a Dutch document from 1742, in which a merchant ship "de Ridderkerk" is shipwrecked near the original settlement. The city continued to be ruled by the Talpur Mirs until it was occupied by forces under the command of John Keane in February 1839.

The British East India Company captured Karachi on 3 February 1839 after opened fire and quickly destroyed the local mud fort at Manora. The town was annexed to British India in 1843 after large part Sindh region was captured by Major General Charles James Napier in the Battle of Miani, with the city declared capital of the newly formed Sindh province.

The city was recognized for its strategic importance, prompting the British to establish the Port of Karachi in 1854. Karachi rapidly became a transportation hub for British India owing to newly built port and rail infrastructure, as well as the increase in agricultural exports from the opening of productive tracts of newly irrigated land in Punjab and interior Sindh. The British also developed the Karachi Cantonment as a military garrison in order to aid the British war effort in the First Anglo-Afghan War.

During the Sepoy Mutiny of 1857, the 21st Native Infantry, then stationed in Karachi, mutinied and declared allegiance to rebel forces in September 1857, though the British were able to quickly defeat the rebels and reassert control over the city. Following the Rebellion, British colonial administrators continued to develop the city. In 1864, the first telegraphic message was sent from South Asia to England from Karachi. Public building works were undertaken, including the construction of Frere Hall in 1865 and the later Empress Market. In 1878, the British Raj connected Karachi with the network of British India's vast railway system.

By 1899, Karachi had become the largest wheat-exporting port in the East. British development projects in Karachi resulted in an influx of economic migrants from several ethnicities and religions, including Anglo-British, Parsis, Marathis, and Goan Christians, among others. Karachi's newly arrived Jewish population established the city's first synagogue in 1893. Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan, was born in Karachi's Wazir Mansion in 1876 to migrants from Gujarat. By the end of the 19th century, Karachi's population was estimated to be 105,000.

Under British rule, the city's municipal government was established. Known as the "Father of Modern Karachi", mayor Seth Harchandrai Vishandas led the municipal government to improve sanitary conditions in the Old City, as well as major infrastructure works in the New Town after his election in 1911.

At the dawn of independence following the success of the Pakistan Movement in 1947, Karachi was Sindh's largest city with a population of over 400,000. Despite communal violence across India and Pakistan, Karachi remained relatively peaceful compared to cities further north in Punjab. The city became the focus for the resettlement of Muslim Muhajirs migrating from India, leading to a dramatic expansion of the city's population. This migration lasted until the 1960s. This immigration ultimately transformed the city's demographics and economy.

Karachi was selected as the first capital of Pakistan and served as such until the capital was shifted to Rawalpindi in 1958. While foreign embassies shifted away from Karachi, the city is host to numerous consulates and honorary consulates. Between 1958 and 1970, Karachi's role as capital of Sindh was ceased due to the One Unit programme enacted by President Iskander Mirza.

Karachi of the 1960s was regarded as an economic role model around the world, with Seoul, South Korea borrowing from the city's second "Five-Year Plan." The 1970s saw major labour struggles in Karachi's industrial estates. The 1980s and 1990s saw an influx of thousands of Afghan refugees from the Soviet–Afghan War into Karachi; who were in turn followed in smaller numbers by refugees escaping from post-revolution Iran.

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Karachi was rocked by political conflict, while crime rates drastically increased with the arrival of weaponry from the War in Afghanistan. Conflict between the MQM party, and ethnic Sindhis, Pashtuns, and Punjabis was sharp. The party and its vast network of supporters were targeted by Pakistani security forces as part of the controversial Operation Clean-up in 1992 – an effort to restore peace in the city that lasted until 1994. Anti-Hindu riots also broke out in Karachi in 1992 in retaliation for the demolition of the Babri Mosque in India by a group of Hindu nationalists earlier that year. Karachi had become widely known for its high rates of violent crime, but recorded crimes sharply decreased following a controversial crackdown operation against criminals, the MQM party, and Islamist militants initiated in 2013 by the Pakistan Rangers.

Karachi is located on the coastline of Sindh province in southern Pakistan, along a natural harbour on the Arabian Sea. Karachi is built on a coastal plains with scattered rocky outcroppings, hills and coastal marshlands. Coastal mangrove forests grow in the brackish waters around the Karachi Harbour, and farther southeast towards the expansive Indus River Delta. West of Karachi city is the Cape Monze, locally known as Ras Muari, which is an area characterised by sea cliffs, rocky sandstone promontories and undeveloped beaches.

Within the city of Karachi are two small ranges: the Khasa Hills and Mulri Hills, which lie in the northwest and act as a barrier between North Nazimabad Town and Orangi Town. Karachi's hills are barren and are part of the larger Kirthar Range, and have a maximum elevation of.

Between the hills are wide coastal plains interspersed with dry river beds and water channels. Karachi has developed around the Malir River and Lyari Rivers, with the Lyari shore being the site of the settlement for "Kolachi". To the west of Karachi lies the Indus River flood plain.

Karachi has an arid climate (Köppen: "BWh") dominated by a long "Summer Season" while moderated by oceanic influence from the Arabian Sea. The city has low annual average precipitation levels (approx. per annum), the bulk of which occurs during the July–August monsoon season. While the summers are hot and humid, cool sea breezes typically provide relief during hot summer months, though Karachi is prone to deadly heat waves, though a text-message based early warning system is now in place that helped prevent any fatalities during an unusually strong heatwave in October 2017. The winter climate is dry and lasts between December and February. It is dry and pleasant relative to the warm hot season, which starts in March and lasts until monsoons arrive in June. Proximity to the sea maintains humidity levels at near-constant levels year-round.

The city's highest monthly rainfall,, occurred in July 1967. The city's highest rainfall in 24 hours occurred on 7 August 1953, when about of rain lashed the city, resulting in major flooding.
Karachi's highest recorded temperature is which was recorded on 9 May 1938, and the lowest is recorded on 21 January 1934.
The city first developed around the Karachi Harbour, and owes much of its growth to its role as a seaport at the end of the 18th century, contrasted with Pakistan's millennia-old cities such as Lahore, Multan, and Peshawar. Karachi's Mithadar neighbourhood represents the extent of "Kolachi" prior to British rule.

British Karachi was divided between the "New Town" and the "Old Town," with British investments focused primarily in the New Town. The Old Town was a largely unplanned neighbourhood which housed most of the city's indigenous residents, and had no access to sewerage systems, electricity, and water. The New Town was subdivided into residential, commercial, and military areas. Given the strategic value of the city, the British developed the Karachi Cantonment as a military garrison in the New Town to aid the British war effort in the First Anglo-Afghan War.

The city's development was largely confined to the area north of the Chinna Creek prior to independence, although the seaside area of Clifton was also developed as a posh locale under the British, and its large bungalows and estates remain some of the city's most desirable properties. The aforementioned historic areas form the oldest portions of Karachi, and contain its most important monuments and government buildings, with the I. I. Chundrigar Road being home to most of Pakistan's banks, including the Habib Bank Plaza which was Pakistan's tallest building from 1963 until the early 2000s.

Situated on a coastal plain northwest of Karachi's historic core lies the sprawling district of Orangi Town. North of the historic core is the largely middle-class district of Nazimabad, and upper-middle class North Nazimabad, which were developed in the 1950s. To the east of the historic core is the area known as Defence – an expansive upscale suburb developed and administered by the Pakistan Army. Karachi's coastal plains along the Arabian Sea south of Clifton were also developed much later as part of the greater Defence Housing Authority project.

Karachi's city limits also include several islands, including Baba and Bhit Islands, Oyster Rocks, and Manora, a former island which is now connected to the mainland by a thin 12 kilometre long shoal known as Sandspit. The city has been described as one divided into sections for those able to afford to live in planned localities with access to urban amenities, and those who live in unplanned communities with inadequate access to such services. Up to 60% of Karachi's residents live in such unplanned communities.

Karachi is Pakistan's financial and commercial capital. Since Pakistan's independence, Karachi has been the centre of the nation's economy, and remain's Pakistan's largest urban economy despite the economic stagnation caused by sociopolitical unrest during the late 1980s and 1990s. The city forms the centre of an economic corridor stretching from Karachi to nearby Hyderabad, and Thatta.

With an estimated GDP of $113 billion, Karachi contributes the bulk of Sindh's gross domestic product. and accounts for approximately 20% of the total GDP of Pakistan. The city has a large informal economy which is not typically reflected in GDP estimates. The informal economy may constitute up to 36% of Pakistan's total economy, versus 22% of India's economy, and 13% of the Chinese economy. The informal sector employs up to 70% of the city's workforce. In 2018 The Global Metro Monitor Report ranked Karachi's economy as the best performing metropolitan economy in Pakistan.

Today along with Pakistan's continued economic expansion Karachi is now ranked third in the world for consumer expenditure growth with its market anticipated to increase by 6.6% in real terms in 2018 It is also ranked among the top cities in the world by anticipated increase of number of households (1.3 million households) with annual income above $20,000 dollars measured at PPP exchange rates by year 2025. The Global FDI Intelligence Report 2017/2018 published by Financial Times ranks Karachi amongst the top 10 Asia pacific cities of the future for FDI strategy.

Most of Pakistan's public and private banks are headquartered on Karachi's I. I. Chundrigar Road, which is known as "Pakistan's Wall Street", with a large percentage of the cashflow in the Pakistani economy taking place on I. I. Chundrigar Road. Most major foreign multinational corporations operating in Pakistan have their headquarters in Karachi. Karachi is also home to the Pakistan Stock Exchange, which was rated as Asia's best performing stock market in 2015 on the heels of Pakistan's upgrade to emerging-market status by MSCI.

Karachi has been the pioneer in cable networking in Pakistan with the most sophisticated of the cable networks of any city of Pakistan,
and has seen an expansion of information and communications technology and electronic media. The city has become a software outsourcing hub for Pakistan. Several independent television and radio stations are based in Karachi, including Business Plus, AAJ News, Geo TV, KTN, Sindh TV, CNBC Pakistan, TV ONE, Express TV, ARY Digital, Indus Television Network, Samaa TV, Abb Tak, BoL TV, and Dawn News, as well as several local stations.

Industry contributes a large portion of Karachi's economy, with the city home to several of Pakistan's largest companies dealing in textiles, cement, steel, heavy machinery, chemicals, and food products. The city is home to approximately 30 percent of Pakistan's manufacturing sector, and produces approximately 42 percent of Pakistan's value added in large scale manufacturing. At least 4500 industrial units form Karachi's formal industrial economy. Karachi's informal manufacturing sector employs far more people than the formal sector, though proxy data suggest that the capital employed and value added from such informal enterprises is far smaller than that offormal sector enterprises. An estimated 63% of the Karachi's workforce is employed in trade and manufacturing.

Karachi Export Processing Zone, SITE, Korangi, Northern Bypass Industrial Zone, Bin Qasim and North Karachi serve as large industrial estates in Karachi. The Karachi Expo Centre also complements Karachi's industrial economy by hosting regional and international exhibitions.

As home to Pakistan's largest ports and a large portion of its manufacturing base, Karachi contributes a large share of Pakistan's collected tax revenue. As most of Pakistan's large multinational corporations are based in Karachi, income taxes are paid in the city even though income may be generated from other parts of the country. As home to the country's two largest ports, Pakistani customs officials collect the bulk of federal duty and tariffs at Karachi's ports, even if those imports are destined for one of Pakistan's other provinces. Approximately 25% of Pakistan's national revenue is "generated" in Karachi.

According to the Federal Board of Revenue's 2006–2007 year book, tax and customs units in Karachi were responsible for 46.75% of direct taxes, 33.65% of federal excise tax, and 23.38% of domestic sales tax. Karachi accounts for 75.14% of customs duty and 79% of sales tax on imports, and collects 53.38% of the total collections of the Federal Board of Revenue, of which 53.33% are customs duty and sales tax on imports.

Karachi is the most linguistically, ethnically, and religiously diverse city in Pakistan. The city is a melting pot of ethno-linguistic groups from throughout Pakistan, as well as migrants from other parts of Asia. The city's inhabitants are referred to by the demonym "Karachiite". The 2017 census numerated Karachi's population to be 14,910,352, having grown 2.49% per year since the 1998 census, which had listed Karachi's population at approximately 9.3 million.

At the end of the 19th century, Karachi had an estimated population of 105,000. By the dawn of Pakistan's independence in 1947, the city had an estimated population of 400,000. The city's population grew dramatically with the arrival of hundreds of thousands of Muslim refugees from the newly independent Republic of India. Rapid economic growth following independence attracted further migrants from throughout Pakistan and South Asia. The 2017 census numerated Karachi's population to be 14,910,352, having grown 2.49% per year since the 1998 census, which had listed Karachi's population at approximately 9.3 million.

Lower than expected population figures from the census suggest that Karachi's poor infrastructure, law and order situation, and weakened economy relative to other parts of Pakistan made the city less attractive to in-migration than previously thought. The figure is disputed by all the major political parties in Sindh. Karachi's population grew by 59.8% since the 1998 census to 14.9 million, while Lahore city grew 75.3% – though Karachi's census district had not been altered by the provincial government since 1998, while Lahore's had been expanded by Punjab's government, leading to some of Karachi's growth to have occurred outside the city's census boundaries. Karachi's population had grown at a rate of 3.49% between the 1981 and 1998 census, leading many analysts to estimate Karachi's 2017 population to be approximately 18 million by extrapolating a continued annual growth rate of 3.49%. Some had expected that the city's population to be between 22 and 30 million, which would require an annual growth rate accelerating to between 4.6% and 6.33%.

Political parties in the province have suggested the city's population has been underestimated in a deliberate attempt to undermine the political power of the city and province. Senator Taj Haider from the PPP claimed he had official documents revealing the city's population to be 25.6 million in 2013, while the Sindh Bureau of Statistics, part of by the PPP-led provincial administration, estimated Karachi's 2016 population to be 19.1 million.

The oldest portions of modern Karachi reflect the ethnic composition of the first settlement, with Balochis and Sindhis continuing to make up a large portion of the Lyari neighbourhood, though many of the residents are relatively recent migrants. Following Partition, large numbers of Hindus migrant Pakistan for the newly-independent Dominion of India (later the Republic of India), while a larger percentage of Muslim migrant from India settled in Karachi. The city grew 150% during the ten period between 1941 and 1951 with the arrival of migrants from India, who made up 57% of Karachi's population in 1951. The city is now considered a melting pot of Pakistan, and is the country's most diverse city. In 2011, an estimated 2.5 million foreign migrants lived in the city, mostly from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Myanmar, and Sri Lanka.

Karachi is home to a wide array of non-Urdu speaking Muslim peoples from what is now the Republic of India. The city has a sizable community of Gujarati, Marathi, Konkani-speaking refugees. Karachi is also home to a several-thousand member strong community of Malabari Muslims from Kerala in South India. These ethno-linguistic groups are being assimilated in the Urdu-speaking community.

During the period of rapid economic growth in the 1960s, large numbers Pashtuns from the NWFP migrated to Karachi with Afghan Pashtun refugees settling in Karachi during the 80's. By some estimates, Karachi is home to the world's largest urban Pashtun population, with more Pashtun citizens than the FATA. While generally considered to be one of Karachi's most conservative communities, Pashtuns in Karachi generally vote for the secular Awami National Party rather than religious parties. Pashtuns from Afghanistan are regarded as the most conservative community. Pashtuns from Pakistan's Swat Valley, in contrast, are generally seen as more liberal in social outlook. The Pashtun community forms the bulk of manual labourers and transporters.

Migrants from Punjab began settling in Karachi in large numbers in the 1960s, and now make up an estimated 14% of Karachi's population. The community forms the bulk of the city's police force, and also form a large portion of Karachi's entrepreneurial classes and direct a larger portion of Karachi's service-sector economy. The bulk of Karachi's Christian community, which makes up 2.5% of the city's population, is Punjabi.

Despite being the capital of Sindh province, only 6–8% of the city is Sindhi. Sindhis form much of the municipal and provincial bureaucracy. 4% of Karachi's population speaks Balochi as its mother tongue, though most Baloch speakers are of Sheedi heritage – a community that traces its roots to Africa.

Following the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 and independence of Bangladesh, thousands of Urdu-speaking Biharis arrived in the city, preferring to remain Pakistani rather than live in the newly-independent country. Large numbers of Bengalis also migrated from Bangladesh to Karachi during periods of economic growth in the 1980s and 1990s. Karachi is now home to an estimated 2.5 to 3 million ethnic Bengalis living in Pakistan. Rohingya refugees from Myanmar, who speak a dialect of Bengali and are sometimes regarded as Bengalis, also live in the city. Karachi is home to an estimated 400,000 Rohingya residents. Large scale Rohingya migration to Karachi made Karachi one of the largest population centres of Rohingyas in the world outside of Myanmar.

Central Asian migrants from Uzbekistan and Kyrghyzstan have also settled in the city. Domestic workers from the Philippines are employed in Karachi's posh locales, while many of the city's teachers hail from Sri Lanka. Expatriates from China began migrating to Karachi in the 1940s, to work as dentists, chefs and shoemakers, while many of their decedents continue to live in Pakistan. The city is also home to a small number of British and American expatriates.

During World War II, about 3,000 Polish refugees from the Soviet Union, with some Polish families who chose to remain in the city after Partition. Post-Partition Karachi also once had a sizable refugee community from post-revolutionary Iran.

Karachi is one of Pakistan's most religiously diverse cities. "Karachiites" adhere to numerous sects and sub-sects of Islam, as well as Protestant Christianity, and community of Goan Catholics. The city also is home to large numbers of Hindus, and a small community of Zoroastrians.

Prior to Pakistan's independence in 1947, the population of the city was estimated to be 50% Muslim, 40% Hindu, with the remaining 10% primarily Christians (both British and native), with a small numbers of Jews. Following the independence of Pakistan, much of Karachi's Sindhi Hindu population left for India while Muslim refugees from India in turn settled in the city. The city continued to attract migrants from throughout Pakistan, who were overwhelmingly Muslim, and city's population nearly doubled again in the 1950s. As a result of continued migration, over 96.5% of the city currently is estimated to be Muslim.

Karachi is overwhelmingly Muslim, though the city is one of Pakistan's most secular cities. Approximately 65% of Karachi's Muslims are Sunnis, while 35% are Shi'ites. Sunnis primarily follow the Hanafi school of jurisprudence, with Sufism influencing religious practices by encouraging reverence for Sufi saints such as Abdullah Shah Ghazi and Mewa Shah. Shi'ites are predominantly Twelver, with a significant Ismaili minority which is further subdivided into Nizaris, Mustaalis, Dawoodi Bohras, and Sulaymanis.

Approximately 2.5% of Karachi's population is Christian. The city's Christian community is primarily composed of Punjabi Christians, who converted from Sikhism to Christianity during the British Raj. Karachi has a community of Goan Catholics who are typically better-educated and more affluent than their Punjabi co-religionists. The Goan community dates from 1820 and has a population estimated to be 12,000–15,000 strong.

While most of the city's Hindu population left "en masse" for India following Pakistan's independence, Karachi still has a large Hindu community with an estimated population of 250,000 based on 2013 data. Karachi's affluent and influential Parsis have lived in the region in the 12th century, though the modern community dates from the mid 19th century when they served as military contractors and commissariat agents to the British. Further waves of Parsi immigrants from Persia settled in the city in the late 19th century. The population of Parsis in Karachi and throughout South Asia is in continuous decline due to low birth-rates and migration to Western countries.

Karachi has the largest number of Urdu speakers in Pakistan. As per the 1998 census, the linguistic breakdown of Karachi Division is:
The category of "others" includes Gujarati, Dawoodi Bohra, Memon, Marwari, Dari, Brahui, Makrani, Hazara, Khowar, Gilgiti, Burushaski, Balti, Arabic, Farsi and Bengali.

Karachi is served by a road network estimated to be approximately in length, serving approximately 3.1 million vehicles per day.

Karachi is served by three "Signal-Free Corridors" which are designed as urban express roads to permit traffic to transverse large distances without the need to stop at intersections and stop lights. The first opened in 2007 and connects Shah Faisal Town in eastern Karachi to the industrial-estates in SITE Town away. The second corridor connects Surjani Town with Shahrah-e-Faisal over a 19 kilometre span, while the third stretch and connects Karachi's urban centre to the Gulistan-e-Johar suburb. A fourth corridor is currently under construction that will link Karachi's centre to Karachi's Malir Town.

Karachi will be the terminus of the under construction M-9 motorway, which will connect Karachi to Hyderabad. The road is being constructed as part of a much larger motorway network under construction as part of the expansive China Pakistan Economic Corridor. From Hyderabad, motorways have been built, or are being constructed, to provide high-speed road access to the northern Pakistani cities of Peshawar and Mansehra to the north of Karachi.

Karachi is also the terminus of the N-5 National Highway which connects the city to the historic medieval capital of Sindh, Thatta. It offers further connections to northern Pakistan and the Afghan border near Torkham, as well as the N-25 National Highway which connects the port city to the Afghan border near Quetta.

Within the city of Karachi, the Lyari Expressway is a controlled-access highway along the Lyari River in Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan. Lyari Expressway's north-bound and south-bound sections are both complete and open for traffic. This toll highway is designed to relieve congestion in the city of Karachi. To the north of Karachi lies the Karachi Northern Bypass (M10), which starts near the junction of the M9. It then continues north for a few kilometres before turning west, where it intersects the N25.

Karachi is linked by rail to the rest of the country by Pakistan Railways. The Karachi City Station and Karachi Cantonment Railway Station are the city's two major railway stations. The city has an international rail link, the Thar Express which links Karachi Cantonment Station with Bhagat Ki Kothi station in Jodhpur, India.

The railway system also handles freight linking Karachi port to destinations up-country in northern Pakistan. The city is the terminus for the Main Line-1 Railway which connects Karachi to Peshawar. Pakistan's rail network, including the Main Line-1 Railway is being upgraded as part of the China Pakistan Economic Corridor, allowing trains to depart Karachi and travel on Pakistani railways at an average speed of versus the average speed currently possible on existing track.

Karachi's public transport infrastructure is inadequate and constrained by low levels of investment. Karachi is not currently served by any municipal public transit, and is instead serviced primarily by the private and informal sector.

The Pakistani Government is developing the Karachi Metrobus project, which is a multi-line bus rapid transit system currently under construction. The Metrobus project was inaugurated by then-Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on 25 February 2016. Sharif stated that the "project will be more beautiful than Lahore Metro Bus." The projects initial launch date was February 2017, but due to the slow pace of work, it is not yet operational.

Karachi was once served by numerous trams and the Karachi Circular Railway, although both systems are no longer in operation. While the Japanese Government has expressed willingness to help fund the refurbishment of the Karachi Circular Railway, the project has not been finalized.

Karachi's Jinnah International Airport is the busiest airport of Pakistan with a total of 6.2 million passengers in 2015. The current terminal structure was built in 1992, and is divided into international and domestic sections. Karachi's airport serves as a hub for the flag carrier, Pakistan International Airlines (PIA), as well as for Air Indus, Shaheen Air, and airblue. The airport offers non-stop flights to destinations throughout East Asia, South Asia, Southeast Asia, the Persian Gulf States, Europe and North America.

The largest shipping ports in Pakistan are the Port of Karachi and the nearby Port Qasim, the former being the oldest port of Pakistan. Port Qasim is located east of the Port of Karachi on the Indus River estuary. These ports handle 95% of Pakistan's trade cargo to and from foreign ports. These seaports have modern facilities which include bulk handling, containers and oil terminals.

In response to a cholera epidemic in 1846, the Karachi Conservancy Board was organized by British administrators. The board became the Karachi Municipal Commission in 1852, and the Karachi Municipal Committee the following year. The City of Karachi Municipal Act of 1933 transformed the city administration into the Karachi Municipal Corporation with a mayor, a deputy mayor and 57 councillors. In 1976, the body became the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation.

During the 1900s, Karachi saw its major beautification project under the mayoralty of Harchandrai Vishandas. New roads, parks, residential, and recreational areas were developed as part of this project. In 1948, the Federal Capital Territory of Pakistan was created, comprising approximately of Karachi and surrounding areas, but this was merged into the province of West Pakistan in 1961. In 1996, the metropolitan area was divided into five districts, each with its own municipal corporation.

In 2001, five districts of Karachi were merged to form the city district of Karachi, with a three-tier structure. The two most local tiers are composed of 18 towns, and 178 union councils. Each tier focused on elected councils with some common members to provide "vertical linkage" within the federation.

Naimatullah Khan was the first Nazim of Karachi during the Union Council period, while Shafiq-Ur-Rehman Paracha was the first district co-ordination officer of Karachi. Syed Mustafa Kamal was elected City Nazim of Karachi to succeed Naimatullah Khan in 2005 elections, and Nasreen Jalil was elected as the City Naib Nazim.

Each Union Council had thirteen members elected from specified electorates: four men and two women elected directly by the general population; two men and two women elected by peasants and workers; one member for minority communities; two members are elected jointly as the Union Mayor ("Nazim") and Deputy Union Mayor ("Naib Nazim"). Each council included up to three council secretaries and a number of other civil servants. The Union Council system was dismantled in 2011.

In 2011, city district government of Karachi was reverted its original constituent units known as District Municipal Corporations (DMC). The five original DMCs are: Karachi East, Karachi West, Karachi Central, Karachi South and Malir. In November 2013, a sixth DMC, "Korangi" was carved out from District East.

The current city administrator is Muhammad Hussain Syed and Municipal Commissioner of Karachi is Matanat Ali Khan. The position of Commissioner of Karachi was created and Shoaib Ahmad Siddiqui was appointed as the Commissioner of Karachi. There are six military cantonments, which are administered by the Pakistani Army, and are some of Karachi's most upscale neighbourhoods.
76% of Karachi households have access to piped water, with private water tankers supplying much of the water required in informal settlements. 18% of residents in a 2015 survey rated their water supply as "bad," or "very bad," while 44% expressed concern at the stability of water supply. By 2015, an estimated 30,000 people were dying due to water-borne diseases annually.

The K-IV water project is under development at a cost of $876 million, that will provide 650 million gallons daily of potable water to the city, with the first phase expected to supply 260 million gallons by June 2018.

98% of Karachi's households are connected to the city's underground public sewerage system, largely operated by the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board. Households in Orangi Town self-organized in order to set-up their own sewerage system under the Orangi Pilot Project, a community service organization founded in 1980. 90% of Orangi streets are now connected to a sewer system built by local residents under the Orangi Pilot Project. Residents of individual streets bear the cost of sewerage pipes, and provide volunteer labour to lay the pipe. Residents also maintain the sewer pipes, while the city municipal administration has built several primary and secondary pipes for the network. As a result of OPP, 96% of Orangi residents have access to a latrine.

72% reported in 2015 that Karachi's drainage system overflows or backs up, – the highest percentage of all major Pakistani cities. Parts of the city's drainage system overflows on average 2–7 times per month, flooding some city streets.

Karachi has the highest percentage of residents in Pakistan who report that their streets are never cleaned – 42% of residents in Karachi report their streets are never cleaned, compared to 10% of residents in Lahore. Only 17% of Karachi residents reporting daily street cleaning, compared to 45%
in Lahore. 69% of Karachi residents rely on private garbage collection services, with only 15% relying on municipal garbage collection services. 57% of Karachi residents in a 2015 survey reported that the state of their neighbourhood's cleanliness was either "bad" or "very bad". compared to 35% in Lahore, and 16% in Multan.

Karachi's primary education system is divided into five levels: primary (grades one through five); middle (grades six through eight); high (grades nine and ten, leading to the Secondary School Certificate); intermediate (grades eleven and twelve, leading to a Higher Secondary School Certificate); and university programs leading to graduate and advanced degrees. Karachi has both public and private educational institutions. Most educational institutions are gender-based, from primary to university level.

Several of Karachi's schools, such as St Patrick's High School, and St Paul's English High School, are operated by Christian churches, and among Pakistan's most prestigious schools.

Karachi is home to several major public universities. Karachi's first public university's date from the British colonial era. The Sindh Madressatul Islam founded in 1885, was granted university status in 2012. Establishment of the Sindh Madressatul Islam was followed by the establishment of the D. J. Sindh Government Science College in 1887, and the institution was granted university status in 2014. The Nadirshaw Edulji Dinshaw University of Engineering and Technology (NED), was founded in 1921, and is Pakistan's oldest institution of higher learning. The Dow University of Health Sciences was established in 1945, and is now one of Pakistan's top medical research institutions.

The University of Karachi, founded in 1951, is Pakistan's largest university with a student population of 24,000. The Institute of Business Administration (IBA), founded in 1955, is the oldest business school outside of North America and Europe, and was set up with technical support from the Wharton School and the University of Southern California. The Dawood University of Engineering and Technology, which opened in 1962, offers degree programmes in petroleum, gas, chemical, and industrial engineering. The Pakistan Navy Engineering College (PNEC), operated by the Pakistan Navy, is associated with the National University of Sciences and Technology (NUST) in Islamabad.

Karachi is also home to numerous private universities. The Aga Khan University, founded in 1983, is Karachi's oldest private educational institution, and is one of Pakistan's most prestigious medical schools. The Indus Valley School of Art and Architecture was founded in 1989, and offers degree programmes in arts and architectural fields. Hamdard University is the largest private university in Pakistan with faculties including Eastern Medicine, Medical, Engineering, Pharmacy, and Law. The National University of Computer and Emerging Sciences (NUCES-FAST), one of Pakistan's top universities in computer education, operates two campuses in Karachi. Sir Syed University of Engineering and Technology (SSUET) offers degree programmes in biomedical, electronics, telecom and computer engineering. Karachi Institute of Economics & Technology (KIET) has two campuses in Karachi. The Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto Institute of Science and Technology (SZABIST), founded in 1995 by former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, operates a campus in Karachi.Karachi is a centre of research in biomedicine with at least 30 public hospitals, 80 registered private hospitals and 12 recognized medical colleges, including the Indus Hospital, Karachi Institute of Heart Diseases, National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases, Civil Hospital, Combined Military Hospital, PNS Rahat, PNS Shifa, Aga Khan University Hospital, Liaquat National Hospital, Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre, Holy Family Hospital and Ziauddin Hospital. In 1995, Ziauddin Hospital was the site of Pakistan's first bone marrow transplant.

Karachi municipal authorities in October 2017 launched a new early warning system that alerted city residents to a forecasted heatwave. Previous heatwaves had routinely claimed lives in the city, but implementation of the warning system was credited for no reported heat-related fatalities.

Karachi is home to Pakistan and South Asia's largest shopping Mall, Lucky One Mall which boosts over 200 stores. According to TripAdvisor the city is also home to Pakistan's favorite shopping mall, Dolmen Mall, Clifton which was also featured on CNN and the country's favorite entertainment complex, Port Grand. In 2019 the city is expected to add another mega mall/entertainment complex at Bahria Icon Tower Clifton, Pakistan's tallest skyscraper.

Karachi is home to several of Pakistan's most important museums. The National Museum of Pakistan and Mohatta Palace display artwork, while the city also has several private art galleries. The city is also home to the Pakistan Airforce Museum and Pakistan Maritime Museum are also located in the city. Wazir Mansion, the birthplace of Pakistan's founder Muhammad Ali Jinnah has also been preserved as a museum open to the public.

Karachi is home to some of Pakistan's important cultural institutions. The National Academy of Performing Arts, located in the former Hindu Gymkhana, offers diploma courses in performing arts that includes classical music and contemporary theatre. Karachi is home to groups such as Thespianz Theater, a professional youth-based, non-profit performing arts group, which works on theatre and arts activities in Pakistan.

Though Lahore is considered to be home of Pakistan's film industry, Karachi is home to Kara Film Festival annually showcases independent Pakistani and international films and documentaries.

The All Pakistan Music Conference, linked to the 45-year-old similar institution in Lahore, has been holding its annual music festival since its inception in 2004. The National Arts Council ("Koocha-e-Saqafat") has musical performances and mushaira.

Karachi is a tourist destination for domestic and international tourists. Tourist attractions near Karachi city include:

Museums: Museums located in Karachi include the National Museum of Pakistan, Pakistan Air Force Museum, and Pakistan Maritime Museum.

Parks: Parks located in Karachi include Bagh Ibne Qasim, Boat Basin Park, Mazar-e-Quaid, Karachi Zoo, Hill Park, Safari Park, Bagh-e-Jinnah, PAF Museum Park and Maritime Museum Park.

Sometimes stated to be amongst the world's most dangerous cities, the extent of violent crime in Karachi is not as significant in magnitude as compared to other cities. According to the Numbeo Crime Index 2014, Karachi was the 6th most dangerous city in the world. By the middle of 2016, Karachi's rank had dropped to 31 following the launch of anti-crime operations. By 2018, Karachi's ranking has dropped to 50.

The city's large population results in high numbers of homicides with a moderate homicide rate. Karachi's homicide rates are lower than many Latin American cities, and in 2015 was 12.5 per 100,000 – lower than the homicide rate of several American cities such as New Orleans and St. Louis. The homicide rates in some Latin American cities such as Caracas, Venezuela and Acapulco, Mexico are in excess of 100 per 100,000 residents, many times greater than Karachi's homicide rate. In 2016, the number of murders in Karachi had dropped to 471, which had dropped further to 381 in 2017.

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Karachi was rocked by political conflict while crime rates drastically increased with the arrival of weaponry from the War in Afghanistan. Several of Karachi's criminal mafias became powerful during a period in the 1990s described as "the rule of the mafias." Major mafias active in the city included land mafia, water tanker mafia, transport mafia and a sand and gravel mafia. Karachi's highest death rates occurred in the mid 1990s when Karachi was much smaller. In 1995, 1,742 killings were recorded, when the city had over 5 million fewer residents.

Karachi had become widely known for its high rates of violent crime, but rates sharply decreased following a controversial crackdown operation against criminals, the MQM party, and Islamist militants initiated in 2013 by the Pakistan Rangers. In 2015, 1,040 Karachiites were killed in either acts of terror or crime – an almost 50% decrease from the 2,023 deaths in 2014, and an almost 70% decrease from the 3,251 deaths recorded in 2013 – the highest ever recorded number in Karachi history. Despite a sharp decrease in violent crime, street crime remains high.

With 650 homicides in 2015, Karachi's homicide rate decreased by 75% compared to 2013. In 2017, the number of homicides had dropped further to 381. Extortion crimes decreased by 80% between 2013 and 2015, while kidnappings decreased by 90% during the same period. By 2016, the city registered a total of 21 cases of kidnap for ransom. Terrorist incidents dropped by 98% between 2012 and 2017, according to Pakistan's Interior Ministry. As a result of the Karachi's improved security environment, real-estate prices in Karachi rose sharply in 2015, with a rise in business for upmarket restaurants and cafés.

Insufficient affordable housing infrastructure to absorb growth has resulted in the city's diverse migrant populations being largely confined to ethnically homogenous neighbourhoods. The 1970s saw major labour struggles in Karachi's industrial estates. Violence originated in the city's university campuses, and spread into the city. Conflict was especially sharp between MQM party and ethnic Sindhis, Pashtuns, and Punjabis. The party and its vast network of supporters were targeted by Pakistani security forces as part of the controversial Operation Clean-up in 1992, as part of an effort to restore peace in the city that lasted until 1994.

Urban planning and service delivery have not kept pace with Karachi's growth, resulting in the city's low ranking on livability rankings. The city has no cohesive transportation policy, and no official public transit system, though up to 1,000 new cars are added daily to the city's congested streets.

Unable to provide housing to large numbers of refugees shortly after independence, Karachi's authorities first issued "slips" to refugees beginning in 1950 –
which allowed refugees to settle on any vacant land. Such informal settlements are known as "katchi abadis", and now approximately half the city's residents live in these unplanned communities.

Karachi has a collection of buildings and structures of varied architectural styles. The downtown districts of Saddar and Clifton contain early 20th-century architecture, ranging in style from the neo-classical KPT building to the Sindh High Court Building. Karachi acquired its first neo-Gothic or Indo-Gothic buildings when Frere Hall, Empress Market and St. Patrick's Cathedral were completed. The Mock Tudor architectural style was introduced in the Karachi Gymkhana and the Boat Club. Neo-Renaissance architecture was popular in the 19th century and was the architectural style for St. Joseph's Convent (1870) and the Sind Club (1883). The classical style made a comeback in the late 19th century, as seen in Lady Dufferin Hospital (1898) and the Cantt. Railway Station. While Italianate buildings remained popular, an eclectic blend termed Indo-Saracenic or Anglo-Mughal began to emerge in some locations.

The local mercantile community began acquiring impressive structures. Zaibunnisa Street in the Saddar area (known as Elphinstone Street in British days) is an example where the mercantile groups adopted the Italianate and Indo-Saracenic style to demonstrate their familiarity with Western culture and their own. The Hindu Gymkhana (1925) and Mohatta Palace are examples of Mughal revival buildings. The Sindh Wildlife Conservation Building, located in Saddar, served as a Freemasonic Lodge until it was taken over by the government. There are talks of it being taken away from this custody and being renovated and the Lodge being preserved with its original woodwork and ornate wooden staircase.

Indus Valley School of Art and Architecture is one of the prime examples of Architectural conservation and restoration where an entire Nusserwanjee building from Kharadar area of Karachi has been relocated to Clifton for adaptive reuse in an art school. The procedure involved the careful removal of each piece of timber and stone, stacked temporarily, loaded on the trucks for transportation to the Clifton site, unloaded and re-arranged according to a given layout, stone by stone, piece by piece, and completed within three months.

Architecturally distinctive, even eccentric, buildings have sprung up throughout Karachi. Notable example of contemporary architecture include the Pakistan State Oil Headquarters building. The city has examples of modern Islamic architecture, including the Aga Khan University hospital, Masjid e Tooba, Faran Mosque, Bait-ul Mukarram Mosque, Quaid's Mausoleum, and the Textile Institute of Pakistan. One of the unique cultural elements of Karachi is that the residences, which are two- or three-story townhouses, are built with the front yard protected by a high brick wall. I. I. Chundrigar Road features a range of extremely tall buildings. The most prominent examples include the Habib Bank Plaza, PRC Towers and the MCB Tower which is the tallest skyscraper in Pakistan.

When it comes to sports Karachi has a distinction, because some sources cite that it was in 1877 at Karachi in (British) India, where the first attempt was made to form a set of rules of badminton and likely place is said to Frere Hall.

Cricket's history in Pakistan predates the creation of the country in 1947. The first ever international cricket match in Karachi was held on 22 November 1935 between Sindh and Australian cricket teams. The match was seen by 5,000 Karachiites. Karachi is also the place that innovated tape ball, a safer and more affordable alternative to cricket.

The inaugural first-class match at the National Stadium was played between Pakistan and India on 26 February 1955 and since then Pakistani national cricket team has won 20 of the 41 Test matches played at the National Stadium. The first One Day International at the National Stadium was against the West Indies on 21 November 1980, with the match going to the last ball.

The national team has been less successful in such limited-overs matches at the ground, including a five-year stint between 1996 and 2001, when they failed to win any matches. The city has been host to a number of domestic cricket teams including Karachi, Karachi Blues, Karachi Greens, and Karachi Whites. The National Stadium hosted two group matches (Pakistan v. South Africa on 29 February and Pakistan v. England on 3 March), and a quarter-final match (South Africa v. West Indies on 11 March) during the 1996 Cricket World Cup.

The city has hosted seven editions of the National Games of Pakistan, most recently in 2007.

In 2005, the city hosted the SAFF Championship at this ground, as well as the Geo Super Football League 2007, which attracted capacity crowds during the games. The popularity of golf is increasing, with clubs in Karachi like Dreamworld Resort, Hotel & Golf Club, Arabian Sea Country Club, DA Country & Golf Club. The city has facilities for field hockey (the Hockey Club of Pakistan, UBL Hockey Ground), boxing (KPT Sports Complex), squash (Jahangir Khan Squash Complex), and polo. There are marinas and boating clubs. National Bank of Pakistan Sports Complex is First-class cricket venue and Multi-purpose sports facility in Karachi,Notes
Bibliography

Muhajirs were the Urdu-speaking Muslims, who migrated to Pakistan when the country emerged independent from the British Raj in 1947. Karachi was then home to a very diverse set of ethnicities including Urdu and Gujarati speaking immigrants, Punjabis, Pashtuns, Baluch and foreigners from several South Asian countries. Muhajirs advanced in commerce and the bureaucracy, but many resented the quota system which facilitated Sindhis in gaining university slots and civil service jobs. It was this very ethnic rivalry that led to Muhajir political mobilization, which was further provoked by the stagnant economy and the condition of Biharis in Bangladesh concentration camps.

Muttahida Qaumi Movement

The Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) (, ), is a secular political party in Pakistan that was founded by Altaf Hussain in 1984. Currently the party is split between 2 main factions. MQM-London faction is controlled by Altaf Hussain from London, while MQM-Pakistan is run by Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui based in Pakistan. Its electoral symbol is a kite.

It was founded as a student organization, All Pakistan Muhajir Student Organization (APMSO), in 1978 by Altaf Hussain. APMSO gave birth to the Muhajir Qaumi Movement in 1984. In 1997, the MQM removed the term Muhajir (that denotes the party roots among the country's Urdu-speaking community) from its name and replaced it with "Muttahida" ("United"). The MQM is generally known as a party that holds strong mobilizing potential in Karachi, having traditionally been the dominant political force in the city.

The party has kept its influence over Pakistan's federal government as a key coalition partner since the late 1980s (1988-1990, 1990-1992, 2002-2007, 2008-2013). However, MQM parliamentarians resigned from the National Assembly, Senate and Provincial Assembly of Sindh in protest against a crackdown on party supporters.

In August 2016, after Altaf Hussain's 22 August speech, there was military crack down on the party and Nine Zero was sealed and its leaders including Farooq Sattar were arrested and most elected parliamentarians in the MQM were forced to disassociate themselves from Altaf Hussain. MQM terminated Farooq Sattar's party membership after party rules violations who formed his own.

The first political organization of Muhajirs, called All Pakistan Muhajir Student Organization (APMSO), was founded on 11 June 1978 by Altaf Hussain in Karachi University. On March 18, 1984, the APMSO evolved into a proper political organization—Muhajir Qaumi Movement. It was launched to protect the Muhajir community who perceived themselves as the victims of discrimination and repression by the quota system that gave preference to certain ethnicities for admissions in educational institutions and employment in civil services.

In its early years, MQM drew enormous crowds, the epitome of which was the rally of August 8, 1986 at Nishtar Park, Karachi. Three years into its existence, MQM won the November 1987 local body elections in Karachi and Hyderabad and had several mayors win unopposed. Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) won the highest number of seats in the general election of 1988 and formed a coalition government in the Sindh Province with the help of MQM, which then had a larger mandate in urban Sindh in comparison to PPP whose majority of support came from rural areas of Sindh. A 59-point agreement, called the Karachi Accord, was signed which included statements about protection of the democratic system and political rights, urban development goals, and creating objective criteria for admission to universities and colleges. Within a few months of the agreement, differences surfaced and MQM ministers in the Sindh Cabinet resigned because the agreement was not implemented. Thus, the alliance broke up in October 1989 and MQM joined hands with PPP's opponents. During these times MQM made mark for public benefit initiatives. Khidmat-e-Khalq Committee, a social welfare initiative, was founded in 1978 which in 1998 transformed into Khidmat-e-Khalq Foundation (KKF).

In the elections of October 1990, MQM emerged as the third strongest party in the country. This time, it made its alliance with Pakistan Muslim League (PML) to establish a provincial government in Sindh whereas PML formed the federal government. During these times, small factions of MQM separated themselves on the main body of the party. The largest among these factions is MQM Haqiqi (), which was formed by Afaq Ahmad and Amir Khan. It is generally believed that MQM Haqiqi was formed by the collusion of Pakistani Government in power and the Establishment/Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) to weaken MQM and was supported by successive federal governments and the military. In the years to come, federal governments switched between forming alliance with MQM and fighting against it to establish greater control over Karachi.

From 1992 to 1994, the MQM was the target of the Pakistan Army's Operation Clean-up, The period is regarded as the bloodiest period in Karachi's history, with thousands MQM workers and supporters killed or gone missing. Although 14 years have passed since the alleged arrest or disappearance of MQM workers, families of the missing people are still hopeful after registering the cases in the Supreme Court of Pakistan. The operation left thousands of Urdu-speaking civilians dead.

The violence gripped urban Sindh politics in the late 1980s after General Zia ul-Haq's era, and finally in 1992, the erstwhile government of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif passed a resolution in assembly to launch a military operation in Karachi to target 72 'big fishes'. The federal government gave the reasoning behind this operation, known as "Operation Clean-up", as the government's attempt to end terrorism in Karachi and to seize unauthorized arms. Operation Clean-Up, which ostensibly sought to eliminate all terrorists irrespective of their political affiliation, began in June 1992. MQM perceived this operation as an attempt to wipe out the party altogether. Political violence erupted while MQM organized protests and strikes. The resulting lawlessness prevailed in the largest metropolitan city of Pakistan, which led to the country's President dissolving the National Assembly.

During the 1992 violence Altaf Hussain left the country when a warrant was issued for him in connection with a murder. Since then, the political party is run by Mr Hussain from self-imposed exile in London.

MQM boycotted the subsequent 1993 general elections claiming organized military intimidation but participated in provincial elections. MQM secured 27 seats in provincial assembly, in comparison to its political rival PPP which won 56 seats. This resulted in PPP forming both the provincial and federal governments. Whereas, MQM Haqiqi failed to gain any seats at federal or provincial level. Political violence gained momentum in 1993 and 1994. During the 1994 violence, heavily political killings were reported between MQM, MQM factions, and Sindhi nationalist groups. By July 1995, more than 1,800 people had been assassinated in Karachi. In 1997, MQM boycotted the general elections and officially changed the previously maintained name 'Muhajir' to 'Muttahida'().

In the mid-1990s, MQM created widespread political violence that affected Pakistan's Sindh province, particularly Karachi, the port city that is the country's commercial capital. In the mid-1990s, the U.S. State Department, Amnesty International, and others accused the MQM and a rival faction, MQM Haqiqi, of summary killings, torture, and other abuses. The MQM-A routinely denied involvement in violence.

The party's use of extra-legal activities in conflicts with political opponents have earned it the accusation of terrorism. The party's strongly hierarchical order and personalist leadership style led to some critics labelling the MQM as fascist.

During Operation Clean-up, MQM was accused of being anti-Pakistan and of planning a separatist break-away state, Jinnahpur. However, later some senior army officers, Brigadier (R) Imtiaz and General (R) Naseer Akhtar, confessed that Jinnahpur was "nothing but a drama" against MQM for the military operation and there was no map of Jinnahpur.

On October 19, 1992, Pakistani newspapers carried an ISPR press release, conveying Army's denial of the knowledge of the Jinnahpur plan. The ISPR, the public relations arm of the Pakistan Army stated, "The Army had no evidence concerning the so-called Jinnahpur plan, it is clarified that the newspaper story in question is baseless. The Army has neither handed over to the government any document or map as reported, nor is it in possession of any evidence concerning the so-called Jinnahpur Plan. It is also factually wrong that the matter was discussed at any meeting of the corps commander." Asif Zardari who was then President of Pakistan is said to have "said in a court premises in Karachi that the Jinnahpur scandal was created to malign the MQM."

In 2001, MQM boycotted the local body elections but in the 2002 general elections, MQM won 17 out of 272 seats in national assembly.

In 2008 elections, MQM won 25 seats in the National Assembly of Pakistan and 52 seats in the Provincial Assembly of Sindh.

In 2013, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) filed a Rs 5 billion defamation suit against Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf chairman Imran Khan at the Sindh High Court for issuing statements against MQM chief Altaf Hussain.

In June 2014, the Metropolitan Police raided the London home of its leader, Altaf Hussain, on suspicion of money-laundering. Mr Hussain has lived in the UK since 1991.

In 2008, "Foreign Policy" released a Global Cities Index which named Mustafa Kamal as Mayor of the Moment, along with Berlin's Klaus Wowereit, and Chongqing's Wang Hongju.

The party has won majority in the local government election of Karachi and Hyderabad and brought its mayor in Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) and Hyderabad Municipal Corporation. The mayor of Karachi, Wasim Akhtar has been put behind bars without any charge by anti terror court and is waiting Sindh High Court to grant him bail in order to resume his office as the mayor of Karachi. MQM has also brought its chairman and vice chairman in the municipal committee of fourth largest city of Sindh Mirpurkhas.

MQM and its leader Altaf Hussain decided to boycott elections in 2018 due to military intervention in political affairs, MQM-P which is a separate party now would instead contest for elections using traditional MQM symbol kite. This would be the second boycott of general elections after 1993 and third boycott of all elections including local bodies election in 2001. The average turnout of Karachi constituencies was 40.4% in 2018 elections comparing to 55 percent in 2013.

The party is led by Altaf Hussain under whose supervision, members of the Rabita Committee (also known as Central Coordination Committee) formulate the party's political program. It consists of 24 members from Pakistan and 10 from London, United Kingdom. The party's Karachi-based organizational operations are held under its Karachi Tanzeemi Committee.

On 20 November 2011, Muttahida Qaumi Movement announced the formation of Central Executive Committee with its members drawn from Azad Jammu & Kashmir, Gilgit-Baltistan, Punjab, Khyber Pakhtoonkhawa, Balochistan and Sindh. Addressing a Press Conference, Farooq Sattar, a senior MQM official, told that the purpose of Central Executive Committee is to assist MQM Coordination Committee and the party in organizational matters, policy-making and preparation of manifesto.

MQM has several chapters across the world in the United States, Canada, South Africa, several European countries, and Japan. Currently, the heads of MQM North America are former Federal Minister Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui and Ibad Rehman.

MQM's Party leadership faced widespread arrests after Altaf Hussain's controversial speech and later attack on ARY channel which faced lots of criticism from media and particularly from the establishment which was discontented by his words:'Pakistan Murdabad'. On the orders of Chief of Army Staff General Raheel Sharif Paramilitary forces immediately sealed MQM offices including Nine Zero. MQM's deputy convenor Shahid Pasha, parliamentary leader Farooq Sattar, Sindh assembly opposition leader Izhar ul Hasan and Rabita Committee members Qamar Mansur and Member National Assembly and ex Hyderabad Mayor Kanwar Naveed Jameel were arrested. Farooq Sattar who was released shortly, later disassociated himself from MQM founder and leader Altaf Hussain saying his statements were unacceptable and later presented and facilitated resolutions in Federal and provincial assemblies against his controversial speech, Farooq also claimed to strip MQM chief from constitution and powers. Crack down against MQM took a rapid turn when over hundred MQM Unit and Sector offices have been demolished and lots of MQM workers rounded off.

On August 21, 2016, according to Election Commission of Pakistan, Nadeem Nusrat and not Farooq sattar was the leader of MQM. and According to Nadeem Nusrat, Minus Altaf formula is not acceptable.

MQM leadership in Sindh Assembly declared that it wants MQM leader Altaf Hussain tried for high treason and also removed Nadeem Nusrat, Convenor of the party along with Wasay Jaleel, Mustafa Azizabadi etc.

On 22 September 2016, MQM convenor Nadeem Nusrat termed the moves of Farooq Sattar against party rules and illegal and emphecised he is an elected Convenor and dissolved entire party infrastructure including Rabita Committee and ordered mass resignation of MQM parliamentarians from assemblies and to contest new elections on their own.

In a media conference the spokesman for the United States State Department, John Kirby, stated that US was aware of the arrests of the MQM leaders and was closely monitoring the events.

Although media refers to Muttahida Qaumi Movement as MQM-London, MQM has instructed media to use the original name Muttahida Qaumi Movement only where as Farooq Sattar led faction has adopted the name MQM-Pakistan.

Operation was launched by Sindh Police to target MQM workers in Pakka Qilla Hyderabad. Over 250 besieged innocent men, women, children was massacred during the operation which carried on for 275 hours before Pakistan army men eventually moved in.

Operation clean-up was started by late general Asif Nawaz after Jinnahpur conspiracy and major kaleem torture case.

During tenure of Benazir Bhutto, interior minister General Naseerullah Babar conducted second operation against MQM between 1994-1996.

Due to serious doubts over credibility of operation due to fake encounters, extra judicial killings and rise of killings in Karachi, Benazir Bhutto's government was dismissed by the then President of Pakistan, Farooq Ahmed Laghari.

Due to rise in Target killing and organised crimes of extortion, kidnapping for ransom and increased crime rate of the city, Karachi operation began by the Nawaz Sharif government in 2013 with the intention of creating peace in the city.Even though it was claimed by the interior minister Chaudhry Nisar that the intentions of the operation were apolitical, there have been systematic crackdowns against MQM. In 2015 MQM's Headquarter Nine Zero was raided twice by the paramilitary Rangers and many top officials of MQM were taken into custody. On August 22, 2016, The Headquarter was sealed and hundreds of MQM offices were bulldozed.

Many Journalists opine that Army establishment is behind the formation of PSP and MQM-Pakistan. Many MQM officials including Prof. Zafar Arif, Kanwar Khalid Yunus, adv Sathi ishaq, Amjadullah khan, Qamar Mansur, Shahid Pasha have been in detention since four months.

MNA Kanwar Naveed Jameed, MPA Kamran farooqui have also been arrested by the paramilitary forces.

1994-1996 targeted actions saw gross human rights violations by the state organisations which included kidnapping for random, extrajudicial executions, disappearance, torture, fake encounters etc.

The speeches and images of Altaf Hussain have been banned by the decision of Lahore High Court's justice Naqvi and Anti-Terror court has issued arrest warrants of Altaf Hussain numerous times.

Renowned journalists have accepted that targeted operations are only against MQM.

During Nine Zero raid, MQM worker Waqas Shah was brutally shot down by Ranger's 9mm pistol fire from point blank range. The video evidence released on electronic media confirmed the incident.

Farooq Sattar's coordination officer Syed Aftab Ahmed was killed while in the custody of paramilitary forces. Initially the force denied torture and stated that he died of heart attack but it had to accept after social media publicised videos of torture marks on Aftab's body and autopsy report conforming death due to torture.

As a result of operation, MQM claims 67 of its workers have been extra judicially murdered the paramilitary force while 150 are still missing and more than 5,000 are behind bars. The Amnesty International, US state department, United Nations Human rights commission has published several documents highlighting gross human rights violations during the targeted operation against MQM.

MQM took part in local bodies by election from Union Committee 46 Hyderabad which was vacated by the death of counselor as independent candidate. MQM supported independent candidate Asif Baig defeated the candidate of MQM-Pakistan by a healthy margin.

Muhajir culture () is the culture of Urdu speaking Muslims that migrated mainly from North India after the independence of Pakistan in 1947 generally to the Sindh province and mainly to the city of Karachi. They are also known as Urdu speakers, on account of Urdu being their native language, and have also been referred to as Hindustani Musalman ("Indian Muslims"). Many Muhajirs of Pakistan are closely related to the Muslims of Uttar Pradesh in India. The Muhajirs are concentrated in urban areas of Sindh.

Muhajir culture

The roots of Muhajirs lie with Muslim migration and settlement in North India especially modern Uttar Pradesh. The conversion of natives to Islam and the migration of Muslims from the Muslim World coalesced to form the Urdu Muslim community which was referred to as "Hindustani Musalmans, East Punjab". Early settlement of Northern Muslims was due to the migrations and then establishment of Turkish Sultanate. Most Muslim in Northern India, particularly in Delhi and adjoining areas were of Turkic origin. In medieval times, the term "Hindustani Musalman" was applied to those Muslims who were either converts to Islam or whose ancestors migrated and settled in Delhi Sultanate. These Hindustani Musalmans did not form a single community, as they were divided by ethnic, linguistic and economic differences. Often these early settlers lived in fortified towns, known as Qasbahs. With the rise of the barbaric Mongols hordes under Genghis Khan which committed massacres and genocides in Central Asia and Middle East, there was an influx of Muslim refugees into the Delhi Sultanate, many of whom settled in the provincial qasbas, bringing with them an Arabo-Persianized culture. Many of these early settlers are the ancestors of the Sayyid and Shaikh communities. In these qasbas, over time a number of cultural norms arose, which still typify many North Indian Muslim traditions. The Turkish Sultans of Delhi and their Mughal successors patronized the émigré Muslim culture: Islamic jurists of the Sunni Hanafi school, Persian literati who were Shia Ithnā‘ashariyyah and Sufis of several orders, including the Chishti, Qadiri and Naqshbandi. These Sufi orders were particularly important in converting Hindus to Islam.

Millions of natives converted to Islam during the Muslim rule. Lodi dynasty was dominated by the Pashtuns soldiers from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Afghanistan who settled in the northern India. After the Battle of Panipat (1526) Mughal Emperor Babur defeated the Lodi dynasty with Tajik, Chagatai and Uzbek soldiers and nobility. These Central Asian Turk soldiers and nobles were awarded estates and they settled with their families in the northern India. These diverse ethnic, cultural and linguistic groups merged over the centuries to the form Urdu speaking Muslims of South Asia.

The Rohilla leader Daud Khan was awarded the Katehar (later called Rohilkhand) region in the then northern India by Mughal emperor Aurangzeb Alamgir (ruled 1658-1707) to suppress the Rajput uprisings, which had afflicted this region. Originally, some 20,000 soldiers from various Pashtun tribes (Yusafzai, Ghori, Ghilzai, Barech, Marwat, Durrani, Tareen, Kakar, Naghar, Afridi and Khattak) were hired by Mughals to provide soldiers to the Mughal armies. Their performance was appreciated by Mughal emperor Aurangzeb Alamgir, and an additional force of 25,000 Pashtuns were recruited from modern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Afghanistan and were given respected positions in Mughal Army. Nearly all of Pashtuns settled in the Katehar region and also brought their families from modern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Afghanistan. In 1739, a new wave of Pashtuns settled increasing their population to over 100,0000. After the Third Battle of Panipat fought in 1761 between the Ahmad Shah Durrani and Maratha Empire thousands of Muslim Pashtun, Punjabi and Baloch soldiers settled in the northern India. These diverse ethnic, cultural and linguistic groups merged over the centuries to the form the Urdu speaking Muslims of South Asia.

It is estimated that about 35% of Urdu speakers are of Pashtun origin. The provinces such as Uttar Pradesh and Bihar had significant population of Pashtuns. These Pashtuns over the years lost their language Pashto and culture and adopted Urdu as their first language. Sub-groups also includes the Hyderabadi Muslims, Memon Muslims, Bihari Muslims etc. who keep many of their unique cultural traditions. Muslims from what are now the states of Delhi, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh.

When the Mughal Empire disintegrated, their territory remained confined to the Doab region of and Delhi. Other areas of Hindustan (Uttar Pradesh or U.P.) were now ruled by different rulers: Oudh was ruled by the Shia Nawabs of Oudh, Rohilkhand by the Rohillas, Bundelkhand by the Marathas and Benaras by its own king, while Nepal controlled Kumaon-Garhwal as a part of Greater Nepal. The state's capital city of Lucknow was established by the Muslim Nawabs of Oudh in the 18th century. It became an important centre of Muslim culture, and the centre for the development of Urdu literature.

By the early 19th Century, the British had established their control over what is now Uttar Pradesh. This led to an end of almost eight centuries of Muslim rule over Uttar Pradesh. The British rulers created a class of feudal landowners who were generally referred to as zamindars, and in Awadh as taluqdars. Many of these large landowners provided patronage to the arts, and funded many of the early Muslim educational institutions. A major educational institution was the Aligarh Muslim University, which gave its name to the Aligarh movement. Under the guidance of Sir Sayyid Ahmed Khan, the Urdu speaking Muslim elite sought to retain their position of political and administrative importance by reconciling their Mughal and Islamic culture with English education. A somewhat different educational movement was led by the Ulema of Deoband, who founded a religious school or Dar-ul-Uloom designed to revitalize Islamic learning. The aim of the Deobandis, as the movement became known as was to purge the Muslims of all strata of traditions and customs that were claimed to be Hindu.

The role of Urdu language played an important role in the development of Muslim self-consciousness in the early twentieth century. Urdu speaking Muslims set up Anjumans or associations for the protection and promotion of Urdu. These early Muslim associations formed the nucleus of the All India Muslim League in Dhaka in 1905. Many of the leaders belonged to the Ashraf category. Urdu speaking Muslims formed the core of the movement for a separate Muslim state, later known as Pakistan. The eventual effect of this movement led to the Pakistan Movement, and independence of Pakistan. This led to an exodus of many Muslim professionals to Pakistan, and the division of the Urdu speaking Muslims, with the formation of the Muhajir ethnic group of Pakistan. The role of the Aligarh Muslim University was extremely important in the creation of Pakistan.

The independence of Pakistan in 1947 saw the settlement of Muslim refugees fleeing from anti-Muslim pogroms in India especially in that part of Punjab which remained in India after its division. 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 from Pakistan to India. The Muslim Gujaratis, Konkanis, Hyderabadis, Marathis, Rajasthanis and Biharis 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. There is also a sizable community of people of Tamil Muslim heritage. The non-Urdu speaking Muslim refugees from India now speak the Urdu language and have assimilated into the wider community of Muhajirs.