Buddhists in Pakistan??

[Apprentice]

Over 35,000 Buddhists, Baha’is call Pakistan home - The Express Tribune

How is this possible? Which ethnic group are they from and which area do you live in?

I read in another Express Tribune that there were 4 Buddhist families from North Waziristan IDPs.

Hindus, Buddhists and Baha’is among IDPs - The Express Tribune

But they can't be indigenous Pashtuns. There are no indigenous Pashtun Hindus so how can there be Pashtun Buddhists?

Where have they migrated from?

 

[That Guy]

Why is this a surprise? Pakistan used to be a part of British India, there are also around 3 million(?) Hindus and tens of thousands of Sikhs living in Pakistan.

 

[Apprentice]

Why is this a surprise? Pakistan used to be a part of British India, there are also around 3 million(?) Hindus and tens of thousands of Sikhs living in Pakistan.

Hindus and Sikhs are either ethnic Punjabis or Sindhis, even in the NWFP and Balochistan

There is no such thing as nor has there ever been Pashtun or Baloch Hindus.

And Buddhism died out on its own a long time ago in Punjab.

So where did these Buddhists come from?

Maybe they were Buddhists from other parts of pre--partition India who migrated to NWFP and tribal areas before 1947.

 

[That Guy]

Hindus and Sikhs are either ethnic Punjabis or Sindhis, even in the NWFP and Balochistan

There is no such thing as nor has there ever been Pashtun or Baloch Hindus.

And Buddhism died out on its own a long time ago in Punjab.

So where did these Buddhists come from?

Maybe they were Buddhists from other parts of pre--partition India who migrated to NWFP and tribal areas before 1947.

Why do you even care? How does this effect you? Why are you so stuck on their ethnicity?

 

[Apprentice]

Why do you even care? How does this effect you? Why are you so stuck on their ethnicity?

Out of interest. What else is a forum for?

I would never be surprised if I heard there were Christians or Hindus in Pakistan or even Parsis because all these have histories rooted in the land of Punjab, Sindh etc over a continued period.

Whereas Buddhism died out centuries ago in the territory now called Pakistan. So there's a gap between Pakistan's Buddhist history and its hithero unknown Buddhist commmunity.

 

[Zibago]

Over 35,000 Buddhists, Baha’is call Pakistan home - The Express Tribune

How is this possible? Which ethnic group are they from and which area do you live in?

I read in another Express Tribune that there were 4 Buddhist families from North Waziristan IDPs.

Hindus, Buddhists and Baha’is among IDPs - The Express Tribune

But they can't be indigenous Pashtuns. There are no indigenous Pashtun Hindus so how can there be Pashtun Buddhists?

Where have they migrated from?

Pakistanis of Burman origin also have a small buddhist minority
Burmese people in Pakistan - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[Pakistani till death]

I don't know much but i have acquittance with a buddhist family living in one of the richest neighbourhoods of islamabad ie bani gala.

 

[Apprentice]

I don't know much but i have acquittance with a buddhist family living in one of the richest neighbourhoods of islamabad ie bani gala.

What is his ethnicity? Would love to know. Thanks

 

[Icarus]

What is his ethnicity? Would love to know. Thanks

Probably from the Chittagong Hill Tracts. Back when Bangladesh was still East Pakistan, a number of Buddhists were a part of the civil and military service. Those that chose to stay in Pakistan and their families still make up for what remains of Pakistan's Buddhist minority.

 

[Apprentice]

Probably from the Chittagong Hill Tracts. Back when Bangladesh was still East Pakistan, a number of Buddhists were a part of the civil and military service. Those that chose to stay in Pakistan and their families still make up for what remains of Pakistan's Buddhist minority.

And why would some of them choose to settle in North Waziristan, one of the most backward regions of Pakistan? Are there any families who have maintained their Buddhism from Gandhara times?

 

[Icarus]

And why would some of them choose to settle in North Waziristan, one of the most backward regions of Pakistan? Are there any families who have maintained their Buddhism from Gandhara times?

The Buddhists in North Waziristan, if any, must be of ethnic Pushtun stock who possibly never converted. Seeing as the Chittagong Hill Tracts people can be identified by their physical features alone and mostly reside in Islamabad.

 

[Apprentice]

The Buddhists in North Waziristan, if any, must be of ethnic Pushtun stock who possibly never converted. Seeing as the Chittagong Hill Tracts people can be identified by their physical features alone and mostly reside in Islamabad.

So Pashtuns were Buddhist before?

 

[Icarus]

So Pashtuns were Buddhist before?

The territories they inhabit certainly have Buddhist roots though the Pushtun people themselves probably did not exist as we know them now, at that time. The pushtun people themselves are the product of local, turkic and central asian peoples and so even within various tribes, there is genetic diversity.

Off-Topic: Colonial-era British Anthropologists also conjectured that Pushtuns were the lost tribe of Israel though this theory has been proven false by their contemporary peers.

 

[Apprentice]

4 families (In North Waziristan) is an incredibly small number. How have they managed to not convert after thousands of years. I mean to say, how have they found spouses for all these years?? Among just 4 families?

The territories they inhabit certainly have Buddhist roots though the Pushtun people themselves probably did not exist as we know them now, at that time. The pushtun people themselves are the product of local, turkic and central asian peoples and so even within various tribes, there is genetic diversity.

So what was the ethnicity of the local Gandhara people?

 

[Icarus]

4 families (In North Waziristan) is an incredibly small number. How have they managed to not convert after thousands of years. I mean to say, how have they found spouses for all these years?? Among just 4 families?



So what was the ethnicity of the local Gandhara people?

There was also a single Jew in Afghanistan until the late 90s. Not a family, one single individual. So numbers are no means of gauging minority of faith.

As for the 'Ethnicity' of the Gandhara people, I think the term 'Ethnicity' means different ideas for you and me. A basic contemporary definition of 'Ethnicity' is as follows:

An ethnic group or ethnicity is a category of people who identify with each other based on common ancestral, social, cultural,or national experiences.

Therefore, ethnicity if a very subjective and abstract concept. The Gandhara people's 'ethnicity' would be the Gandhara people as they identified as such at the time. When the Gandhara Civilization collapsed, the same people reoriented themselves into new group identities and thus changed their 'ethnicity'.