The

Uzbeks The Uzbeks ( uz, , , , ) are a Turkic ethnic group native to the wider Central Asian region, being among the largest Turkic ethnic group in the area. They comprise the majority population of Uzbekistan, next to Kazakh and Karakalpak mino ...

( Uzbek: Oʻzbek, Ўзбек, اۉزبېک, plural: Oʻzbeklar, Ўзбеклар, اۉزبېکلر) were one of the first Karluk Turks to arrive in the modern-day region of

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 243 million people, and has the world's second-lar ...

, they ruled the area of

Pakhli Pakhli Sultanate was an ancient sarkar (district) of the Mughal Subah of Punjab, now part of Hazara, Pakistan. It roughly corresponds to the ancient Urasa, the Aρσa or Οΰaρσa which Ptolemy placed between the Bidaspes (Jhelum) and the Indus ...

(modern-day Hazara) for over 200 years from 1472 to 1703. Uzbeks form a significant minority group in Khyber-Pakhtunkwa province and

FATA , conventional_long_name = Federally Administered Tribal Areas , nation = Pakistan , subdivision = Autonomous territory , image_flag = Flag of FATA.svg , image_coat = File:Coat of arms ...

(Federally administrated Tribal areas) of Pakistan. There are many Uzbek immigrants in

from Central Asian countries, mainly

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...

and

Uzbekistan Uzbekistan (, ; uz, Ozbekiston, italic=yes / , ; russian: Узбекистан), officially the Republic of Uzbekistan ( uz, Ozbekiston Respublikasi, italic=yes / ; russian: Республика Узбекистан), is a doubly landlocked co ...

. Around 2.3% of the Afghans residing in Pakistan are ethnic Uzbeks. The Afghan War drove them to Pakistan. In 1981, many Afghan Uzbek refugees in Pakistan moved to Turkey to join the existing communities based in Kayseri, Izmir,

Ankara Ankara ( , ; ), historically known as Ancyra and Angora, is the capital of Turkey. Located in the central part of Anatolia, the city has a population of 5.1 million in its urban center and over 5.7 million in Ankara Province, maki ...

and

Zeytinburnu Zeytinburnu (literally, ''Olive Cape'') is a working-class neighbourhood, municipality (belediye) and district on the European side of Istanbul, Turkey, on the shore of the Marmara Sea just outside the walls of the ancient city, beyond the fortres ...

. The Uzbeks can be found mainly in north-west Pakistan, comprising the areas of

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (; ps, خېبر پښتونخوا; Urdu, Hindko: خیبر پختونخوا) commonly abbreviated as KP or KPK, is one of the Administrative units of Pakistan, four provinces of Pakistan. Located in the Geography of Pakistan, ...

(in particular

Peshawar Peshawar (; ps, پېښور ; hnd, ; ; ur, ) is the sixth most populous city in Pakistan, with a population of over 2.3 million. It is situated in the north-west of the country, close to the International border with Afghanistan. It is ...

), Gilgit-Baltistan and

Balochistan Balochistan ( ; bal, بلۏچستان; also romanised as Baluchistan and Baluchestan) is a historical region in Western and South Asia, located in the Iranian plateau's far southeast and bordering the Indian Plate and the Arabian Sea coastline. ...

. Additionally, Uzbek militants allied to al-Qaeda from the

Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan The Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU; uz, Ўзбекистон исломий ҳаракати/Oʻzbekiston islomiy harakati; russian: Исламское движение Узбекистана ) was a militant Islamist group formed in 1998 ...

and

Islamic Jihad Union The Islamic Jihad Union (IJU; ) is a militant Islamist organization founded in 2002 as a splinter group of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU). Headquartered in North Waziristan, a mountainous region of northwest Pakistan, bordering Afgha ...

are believed to reside in the

Federally Administered Tribal Areas , conventional_long_name = Federally Administered Tribal Areas , nation = Pakistan , subdivision = Autonomous territory , image_flag = Flag of FATA.svg , image_coat = File:Coat of arms ...

. Their number at their height was predicted to be anywhere from 500 to 5,000. Now, only a few hundred foreign militants of various nationalities are thought to remain in Pakistan"THE DEATH KNELL FOR FOREIGN FIGHTERS IN PAKISTAN?" by Raza Khan in the November/December 2014 edition of "CTC Sentinel Journal" published by the Combatting Terrorism Center at Westpoint University - the majority either having been killed by the Pakistani military's Zarb-e-Azb operation launched in 2014, or shifting to other theaters of jihadist conflict, such as Syria.

References

External links

* Ethnic groups in Pakistan Pakistan–Uzbekistan relations Afghan diaspora in Pakistan {{Uzbekistan-stub

See also

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Further reading

External links