Uzbeks in Pakistan


There are an estimated 70,000 Uzbeks in Pakistan. The Uzbek populations in Pakistan consist of Uzbek immigrants from Uzbekistan and Afghanistan. The Soviet–Afghan War drove them to Pakistan. In 1981 Afghan Turkestan refugees in Pakistan moved to Turkey to join the existing Kayseri, Izmir, Ankara, and Zeytinburnu based communities. The Uzbeks can be found mainly in north-west Pakistan, comprising the areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Gilgit-Baltistan. Additionally, Uzbek militants allied to al-Qaeda from the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan and Islamic Jihad Union are believed to reside in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas. Their number at their height was predicted to be anywhere from 500 to 5,000. Now, only a few hundred foreign militants of all nationalities are thought to remain in Pakistan - 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.

Notable people