SUMMARY

Mohajir (or Muhajir) is an ethnic group, mainly inhabiting the Sindh province of southeastern Pakistan. The group make up almost 8 percent of the Pakistani population. As the literal translation of the term “mohajir” also reveals, the Mohajir people were Muslim immigrants from India who arrived to Pakistan after the foundation of the country in 1947. Most of the Mohajir people speak Urdu - the official language of Pakistan along with English - and they live side by side with the Sindhi people, another ethnic group populated the Sindh province of Pakistan.

After the establishment of Pakistan, there was a large-scale population exchange between India and Pakistan, followed by severe violent incidents. According to UNHCR, nearly 14 million people were displaced as Muslims in India fled to Pakistan and Hindus in Pakistan migrated to India. Mohajir people gathered around Karachi, the capital of the Sindh province where Sindhi people were living. The two ethnic groups had grievances relating to the social and political power of the other community, and these triggered ethnic conflict between them in the late 1980s and early 1990s. As a minority group, Mohajir people was faced with certain discriminatory actions and this eventually led to the emergence of MQM (Mohajir Quami Movement) in 1984, tasked with representing the interests of the Mohajir. The group’s demands for the rights and recognition of the Mohajir people was followed by street violence and in the beginning of 1990s, clashes between the Government of Pakistan and MQM broke out. With the government’s military operation named Operation Cleanup targeting the group, the MQM splintered and MQM-H emerged in 1992. During 1990s, MQM and MQM-H engaged in non-state conflict against each other. In 1997, the MQM dropped the word “mohajir” from its name to appeal a wider audience while keeping the same abbreviation and transformed into Muttahida Quami Movement. As of the 2000s, MQM continued its struggle as a legal political party in Pakistan whereas little was known about the fate of MQM-H.