The Muhajir people (also spelled Mohajir and Mahajir; ) are a multi-origin ethnic group of Pakistan. They are the Muslim immigrants of various ethnic groups and regional origins, who migrated from various regions of India, mostly after the 1947 independence to settle in the newly independent state of Pakistan, and their descendants. Muhajirs come from various ethnic and regional backgrounds, with a significant portion of the community residing in Karachi and other major urban centers of Pakistan.

The total population of Muhajrs worldwide is estimated to be around 15 million, and the overwhelming majority of this figure (14.7 million) is located in Pakistan, according to the 2017 Pakistani census. Though the official controversial 2017 census of Karachi, which has historically hosted the country's largest Muhajir population, has been challenged by most of Sindh's political parties.

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

Demographics Origins Most of the Muhajirs who settled in the Sindh province of Pakistan came from the present-day Indian states of Central Provinces, Berar, Bombay, United Provinces, Haryana, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Bihar and Delhi, while others were from princely states of Jammu and Kashmir, Rajasthan, Hyderabad, Baroda, Kutch, and the Rajputana Agency.Bhavnani, Nandita. "Unwanted refugees: Sindhi Hindus in India and muhajirs in Sindh." South Asia: Journal of South Asian Studies 39.4 (2016): 790-804.

Population Muhajirs, worldwide, have a population of over 15 million. Urdu-speaking Muhajirs are mostly settled in Pakistan and currently are the fifth-largest ethnic group of Pakistan, with a population of around 7.6% of the national population, according to the census. Although the population figures of the Muhajir dominated city of Karachi, have faced many controversies mainly due to the controversial 2017 census of Pakistan. The population figure has been rejected by most major political parties of Sindh including MQM-P, PSP, and PPP.

Estimates of Muhajir nationalist organizations range from 22 million to around 30 million. Conversely, Christophe Jaffrelot gives a lower number, estimating their modern population to number between 7 and 9 millions, mostly in Karachi.Christophe Jaffrelot, The Pakistan Paradox: Instability and Resilience, Oxford University Press (2015), p. 176 The variation in population estimates arises from differing definitions: the term Muhajir as an ethnic group typically refers to descendants of migrants from present-day India, whereas the broader category of Urdu speakers may also include millions of individuals, particularly ethnic Punjabis in major urban centers, who now speak Urdu as their first language.

Historically, Muhajirs have constituted above 7% population of West Pakistan (3.5% in Pakistan as a whole).

Languages Being a multi-linguistic group of people, the Muhajirs speak different languages natively depending on their ethnicity and ancestral history.Oskar Verkaaik, A people of migrants: ethnicity, state, and religion in Karachi, Amsterdam: VU University Press, 1994

Urdu

Most Muhajirs speak Urdu, the third-largest Urdu-speaking population in the world. In Sindh, those that speak Urdu as first language mostly migrated from Delhi, United Provinces, Hyderabad Deccan, Bombay, Ajmer, Bhopal, Bihar, Karnal including from other regions with other native tongues who eventually assimilated into the community amid nation building.

In Punjab, although most migrants were of East Punjab origin and Punjabi speakers, a sizeable number of native Urdu-speaking communities also migrated to its urban centres mainly from Delhi, Rohtak, Hisar, Karnal, Alwar, Bharatpur, Jodhpur, Mewat and UP.

Gujarati There is a large community of Gujarati Muhajirs mainly settled in the Pakistani province of Sindh. Estimates say there are 3,500,000 speakers of the Gujarati language in Karachi. Although the Gujaratis speak their own language, they tend to identify with the Urdu-speakers This group includes Muhammad Ali Jinnah, Abdul Sattar Edhi, Javed Miandad, Abdul Razzak Yaqoob, I. I. Chundrigar, and Ahmed Dawood.

Others Non-Urdu speaking Muslim peoples from what is now the Republic of India, such as Marathi, Konkani, 60,000 Rajasthanis who speak the Marwari dialect of Rajasthani language. and several-thousand Malabari Muslims from Kerala in South India, are considered Muhajirs. These ethno-linguistic groups are being assimilated in the Urdu-speaking community.

Many dialects related to Urdu such as Khariboli, and Haryanvi (Rangari dialect) or other languages like Awadhi, Mewati, Bhojpuri and Sadri are also spoken by the Muhajirs.

Geographic distribution In Pakistan

There are an estimated 14.7 million Urdu speakers presumably mostly of Muhajir origin in Pakistan. Most of them are settled in the towns and cities of Pakistan mainly those of Urban Sindh, such as Karachi, Hyderabad, Mirpur Khas and Sukkur. Muhajir pockets are also found in other metropolizes of Pakistan such as Islamabad and Lahore.

+Percent of Urdu speakers by administrative unitAdministrative units of PakistanPopulation% 12,335,129 0.81% Islamabad Capital Territory 2,003,36812.23% 35,501,9640.9% 110,012,4422017 Census 4.87% 47,854,51018.2% 232,675,2127.08%

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

History

The Partition of India caused the largest migration in human history. Many Muslims in parts of present-day India were persecuted by Hindus and Sikhs, while many Hindus and Sikhs in present-day Pakistan were persecuted by Muslims. After the independence of Pakistan, a significant number of Muslims emigrated or were out-migrated from the territory that became the Dominion of India and later the Republic of India. In the aftermath of partition, a huge population exchange occurred between the two newly formed states. In the riots which preceded the partition, 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.

First immigration wave (August–November 1947)

There were three predominant stages of Muslim migration from India to West Pakistan. The first stage lasted from August–November 1947. In this stage of migration the Muslim immigrants originated from East Punjab, Delhi, the four adjacent districts of U.P., and the princely states of Alwar and Bharatpur which are now part of the present-day Indian state of Rajasthan. The violence affecting these areas during partition precipitated an exodus of Muslims from these areas to Pakistan. 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 from 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, suffered as a result. 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 per cent of the population of Karachi, 65 per cent in Hyderabad, and 55 per cent 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 sizeable community of Malayali Muslims (the Mappila), originally from Kerala in South India, also settled in Karachi.Delage, R., 2014. Muslim Castes in India . India: Books Ideas.

Second immigration wave (December 1947 – December 1971)

Many Muslim families from India continued migrating to Pakistan throughout the 1950s and even early 1960s. This second stage (December 1947 – December 1971) of the migration was from areas in the present-day Indian states of U.P., Delhi, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, and Kerala. The main destination of these migrants was Karachi and the other urban centers of Sindh.

In 1952, a joint passport system was introduced for travel purposes between the two countries which made it possible for Indian Muslims to legally move to Pakistan. Pakistan still required educated and skilled workers to absorb into its economy at the time, due to relatively low levels of education (15.9 per cent in 1961) in Pakistan. As late as December 1971, the Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi was authorized to issue documents to educationally-qualified Indians to migrate to Pakistan. The legal route was taken by unemployed but educated Indian Muslims seeking better fortunes, however poorer Muslims from India continued to go illegally via the Rajasthan-Sindh border until the 1965 India–Pakistan war when that route was shut. After the conclusion of the 1965 war, most Muslims who wanted to go to Pakistan had to go there via the East Pakistani-India border. Once reaching Dhaka, most made their way to the final destination-Karachi. However, not all managed to reach West Pakistan from East Pakistan.