Saraiki people

Saraikis
سرائیکی
Depiction of Saraiki men near Derawar Fort
Total population
c. 20 million[1]
Regions with significant populations
 Pakistan20,324,637[2]
Languages
Saraiki
Religion
Majority
Sunni Islam
Related ethnic groups
Other Indo-Aryan peoples

The Saraikis (Saraiki: سرائیکی), are an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group native to the central Pakistan. They are multi-ethnic in origin and speak the Saraiki language.

The region inhabited by Saraiki people is known as Saraik or Saraikistan, which comprises southern Punjab as well as most parts of Derajat, which is located in the region where southwestern Punjab, southeastern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and northeastern Balochistan meet.[3][4][5] Derajat is bounded by the Indus River to the east and the Sulaiman Mountains to the west.

The Saraiki people follow many religions, though most are predominantly followers of Sunni Islam. A small minority of Saraikis follow Christianity, Hinduism and Sikhism. After the independence of Pakistan in 1947, many Hindus and Sikhs migrated to India where they are known as Multanis, Derawalis and Bhawalpuris.[6]

  1. ^ "Saraiki". Ethnologue.
  2. ^ "Pakistan Census 2017" (PDF). www.pbs.pk. Retrieved 20 September 2020.
  3. ^ "About Punjab: Geography". Tourism Development Corporation, Government of the Punjab. Archived from the original on 2007-12-02. Retrieved 2007-12-14.
  4. ^ "People & Culture". Government of the North-West Frontier Province. Archived from the original on 2007-11-17. Retrieved 2007-12-14.
  5. ^ Qadeer, Mohammad (2006-11-22). Pakistan – Social and Cultural Transformations in a Muslim Nation. Routledge. p. 40. ISBN 978-1-134-18617-4. Punjab's diversity of dialects, Saraiki and Pothohari contrasting with the heartland Punjabi, was striking at the time of independence. Since then, the increased mobility of the population and the absorption of refugees from India have stimulated homogenizing tendencies both linguistically and ethnically. NWFP, although symbolically a Pashtoon is also a province of many ethnicities and languages, for example, Hindku-speaking people inhabit the Peshawar Valley and Hazara district, and Saraiki speakers are found in the Derajats.
  6. ^ Bhatia, Tej K.; Ritchie, William C. (2008-04-15). The Handbook of Bilingualism. John Wiley & Sons. p. 803. ISBN 9780470756744.