Saraiki diaspora

The Saraiki diaspora refers to the dispersing of ethnic Saraikis from Pakistan's Saraiki-speaking region to other parts of the world. The Saraikis are one of the largest ethnic groups to collectively migrate from Pakistan. The total Saraiki population numbers around 13 million, with the majority of overseas Saraikis concentrated in Britain, North America, Southeast Asia and the Middle East. Some Saraiki currently live in Afghanistan.[1]

Regions

India

According to the Indian census of 2001, Saraiki is spoken in urban areas throughout northwest and north central India by a total of about 70,000 people, mainly by the descendants of migrants from western Punjab after the Partition of India in 1947. Some of these speakers are settled in Andhra Pradesh who went and settled there before the partition because of their pastoral and nomadic way of life, and these are Muslims.[2] Out of these total speakers of the language, 56,096 persons report their dialect as Mūltānī and by 11,873 individuals report their dialect as Bahāwalpurī.[3] One dialects of Saraiki that is spoken by Indian Saraikis is Derawali, spoken by Derawals in Derawal Nagar, Delhi who migrated to India during the partition.[4] Other dialects spoken by Indian Saraikis include Jafri, Saraiki Hindki, Jhangi, Thali, and Jatki.[5] Saraiki is spoken in Faridabad, Ballabhgarh, Palwal, Rewari, Sirsa, Fatehabad, Hisar, Bhiwani, Panipat districts of Haryana, some area of Delhi and Ganganagar district, Hanumangarh, Bikaner districts and some Balochi and Bhagnaree families of Udaipur city of Rajasthan. It is spoken by some in Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh.

Romani and Saraiki share some words and similar grammatical systems. The cause of the Romani diaspora is unknown. However, the most probable conclusion is that the Romanies were part of the military in Northern India. When there were repeated raids by Mahmud of Ghazni and these soldiers were defeated, they were moved west with their families into the Byzantine Empire. This would have occurred between AD 1000 and 1030.

Afghanistan

In Afghanistan, Kandhari, a dialect of Multani Saraiki is a mother tongue of the Hindki.[1] Before the influx of Pathans into the region, the most common language spoken in Kandahar was Saraiki, namely the Kandhari or Jataki dialect.[6]

Outside South Asia

Many Saraiki migrants are in the Middle East, Europe and America with smaller communities in Australia, South East Asia and China and Cuba. In the United Kingdom, Saraiki is spoken by 400,000. Saraiki is also spoken in Canada,[7] China, South Africa and the USA,[8]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 "Siraiki and Kandhari (Multani)". Afghan Hindu. Retrieved 2007-12-08. Siraiki is a language which is being spoken from Afghanistan to India. There are several names of this language due to different dialects and areas. Some of these are Multani, Reasti, Hindki, Yaghdali, Western Punjabi, Lahanda, Lahendi, Jatki, Kandhari, Dera wal and also southern Punjabi etc. In this article I am discussing about Kandhari dialect of Siraiki language which is also being called Multani. Multani is mother language of Hindus of Afghanistan. When Ahmed Shah Abdali king of Afghanistan invaded on Multan, then these Hindus migrated to Afghanistan due to trade with new areas.
  2. ↑ "Kahan se aa gai (کہاں سے کہاں آ گئے)". Retrieved 8 April 2012.
  3. ↑ "Abstract of speakers' strength of languages and mother tongues – 2001". Retrieved 8 April 2012.
  4. ↑ "Colonies, posh and model in name only!". NCR Tribune. Retrieved 2007-12-16.
  5. ↑ "Seraiki". Ethnologue. Retrieved 2007-07-14. Jafri, Siraiki Hindki, Thali, Jatki, Bahawalpuri (Bhawalpuri, Riasati, Reasati).
  6. ↑ "Pakistan/India/Afghanistan: Multani language; extent to which it is used by Hindus in Afghanistan". Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada / UNHCR. Retrieved 28 July 2012. Before the influx of Pashtoons the inhabitants of Kandahar spoke Seraiki. The Pashtoons labelled their language "Jataki". The language spoken by Afghan Hindus in Kandahar known as Kandhari is probably "Jataki".
  7. ↑ "Canada". Ethnologue.
  8. ↑ "United States". Ethnologue.
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