The Saraikis () are a group of Indo-Aryan communities native to central Pakistan, primarily identifying with Saraiki language and a shared regional identity.

Mostly inhabiting southern Punjab and northern Sindh, as well as most of Derajat, located where southwestern Punjab, southeastern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and northeastern Balochistan meet, the Saraiki regional identity arose in the 1960s, separating itself from the broader Punjabi ethnic identity; this was a result of a political movement, arising in 1962, to separate the Derawali, Multani and Riasti dialects from the Punjabi language, and to instead declare them to constitute a separate language for which the term Saraiki was adopted,: "Until recently it was considered a dialect of Panjabi."; defines Saraiki as a "new literary language"; see also hitherto only used for a Sindhi dialect spoken in northern Sindh.

The Saraikis follow several religions, though most are predominantly followers of Sunni Islam. A small minority of Saraikis follows Christianity in Pakistan. There used to be a large Hindu and Sikh minority, however majority of them migrated to India after Partition of India in 1947. These Hindus and Sikhs now have assimilated into larger Punjabi-speaking and Hindi-speaking populations.

Etymology The present extent of the meaning of is a recent development, and the term most probably gained its currency during the nationalist movement of the 1960s. It has been in use for much longer in Sindh to refer to the speech of the immigrants from the north, principally Siraiki-speaking Baloch tribes who settled there between the 16th and the 19th centuries. In this context, the term can most plausibly be explained as originally having had the meaning "the language of the north", from the Sindhi word 'up-river, north'.; ; This name can ambiguously refer to the northern dialects of Sindhi, but these are nowadays more commonly known as "Siroli" or "Sireli".

An alternative hypothesis is that Sarākī originated in the word sauvīrā, or Sauvira, an ancient kingdom which was also mentioned in the Sanskrit epic Mahabharata.

Currently, the most common rendering of the term is Saraiki. However, Seraiki and Siraiki are also commonly used.

Notable people

See also History of Multan Saraiki cuisine Saraiki literature Saraiki diaspora South Punjab Province movement Saraiki culture

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