Pakistanis in Somalia are residents of

Somalia Somalia, , Osmanya script: 𐒈𐒝𐒑𐒛𐒐𐒘𐒕𐒖; ar, الصومال, aṣ-Ṣūmāl officially the Federal Republic of SomaliaThe ''Federal Republic of Somalia'' is the country's name per Article 1 of thProvisional Constituti ...

who are of Pakistani ancestry. They were historically a small community of retail traders and businesspeople.

Demographics

No official data exists on the current number or ethnic subdivisions of Pakistanis in Somalia. Under 1,000

Shia Shīʿa Islam or Shīʿīsm is the second-largest branch of Islam. It holds that the Islamic prophet Muhammad designated ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib as his successor (''khalīfa'') and the Imam (spiritual and political leader) after him, mo ...

Indo-Pakistanis were reported to reside in the country in 2001. As of 1989, a group of ethnic Baloch also lived in Somalia. An

Iranic The Iranian peoples or Iranic peoples are a diverse grouping of Indo-European peoples who are identified by their usage of the Iranian languages and other cultural similarities. The Proto-Iranians are believed to have emerged as a separate ...

community, they were estimated at 8,200 residents.

Community

There has been a small community of Pakistanis in Somalia since at least the 1960s. Historically, they were mainly shopkeepers, concentrated in

Mogadishu Mogadishu (, also ; so, Muqdisho or ; ar, مقديشو ; it, Mogadiscio ), locally known as Xamar or Hamar, is the capital and most populous city of Somalia. The city has served as an important port connecting traders across the Indian Oc ...

and other southern urban areas. Pakistanis were among the main expatriate communities in the country, which also included

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

ns,

Yemen Yemen (; ar, ٱلْيَمَن, al-Yaman), officially the Republic of Yemen,, ) is a country in Western Asia. It is situated on the southern end of the Arabian Peninsula, and borders Saudi Arabia to the Saudi Arabia–Yemen border, north and ...

is and

Italians , flag = , flag_caption = The national flag of Italy , population = , regions = Italy 55,551,000 , region1 = Brazil , pop1 = 25–33 million , ref1 = , region2 ...

. After the

civil war A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

broke out in Somalia in the early 1990s, most of the resident Pakistanis left the country. Around 5,700 Pakistani troops contributed to the ensuing UN peacekeeping operation in southern Somalia. In the 2000s, some Pakistanis were reported to be among the ranks of foreign fighters involved in the Al-Shabaab-led Islamist insurgency in Somalia. Pakistani missionaries from the

Tablighi Jamaat Tablighi Jamaat (, also translated as "propagation party" or "preaching party") is a transnational Deobandi Islamic Dawah, missionary movement that focuses on exhorting Muslims to be more religiously observant and encouraging fellow memb ...

also frequently journeyed to the country, where they would engage in missionary work and

dawah Dawah ( ar, دعوة, lit=invitation, ) is the act of inviting or calling people to embrace Islam. The plural is ''da‘wāt'' (دَعْوات) or ''da‘awāt'' (دَعَوات). Etymology The English term ''Dawah'' derives from the Arabic ...

Organizations

The Pakistani community in Somalia was diplomatically represented by the Pakistani embassy in Mogadishu. Established in 1973, it provided services to the resident Pakistanis.

References

{{Pakistani diaspora Immigration to Somalia

Demographics

Community

Organizations

See also

References