Total population | |
---|---|
~ 4 million (1981 census) ( | )|
Regions with significant populations | |
Sindh Province, Pakistan | |
Languages | |
Religion | |
Related ethnic groups | |
Baloch • Baloch diaspora • Baloch of Punjab |
The Balochs of Sindh, (Sindhi: سنڌي ٻروچ, Balochi: سندی بلۏچ), is a community of Sindhi-speaking Baloch tribes living throughout the Sindh province of Pakistan.[1]
Settling in the region for centuries, Baloch tribes own large agricultural land and related businesses in Sindh, a large part of them being landlords in Sindh.[2]
The Talpurs were a Sindhi-speaking Baloch tribe,[3] and were descendants of Mir Sulaiman Kako Talpur, who had arrived in Sindh from Choti Bala in southern Punjab.[4]
They were Shia Muslims by faith.[citation needed] They ruled from 1783 until 1843, when they were defeated by the British at the Battle of Miani and Battle of Dubbo. The northern Khairpur branch of the Talpur dynasty however, continued to maintain a degree of sovereignty during British rule as the princely state of Khairpur.[5]
Its ruler joined the new Dominion of Pakistan in October 1947 as an autonomous region in Pakistan.
It is believed that the Balochs migrated from Balochistan during the Little Ice Age.[6] The Little Ice Age is conventionally defined as a period extending from the sixteenth to the nineteenth centuries,[7][8][9] or alternatively, from about 1300[10] to about 1850.[11][12][13] Although climatologists and historians working with local records no longer expect to agree on either the start or end dates of this period, which varied according to local conditions.
According to Dr Akhtar Baloch of the University of Karachi, the climate of Balochistan was very cold and the region was uninhabitable during the winter so the Baloch people migrated in waves and settled in Sindh and Punjab.[14]
Balochs of Sindh mostly migrated from Balochistan to Sindh from 16th to 19th century.[6] Majority of Balochs in Sindh historically speak Siraiki as their mother tongue, that was the reason that in old times "Balochki" term was used interchangeably for Siraiki dialect by Sindhis.[15][16]
At the time of the 1981 census, the ethnic Baloch population was estimated by Selig Harrison to number 4 million out of Sindh's total population of 18 million.[17]
..A very exacting Nawab provoked a revolt led by the Talpurs, Sindhi speaking Balochi people backed by the Mughals and the Persians. The Talpurs won the battle of Halani..
The father of Mir Manik Khan Talpur , Mir Suleman Khan Talpur alias Kako Khan migrated from Choti Bala in Punjab
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In the 1960s, some writers and intellectuals from southern Punjab convened a meeting and decided to discard home-sprung names like Multani, Muzaffargarhi, Uchi, Riasti, Derewali, Hindko, Jaghadali, Thalchari, Lahnda, Jatki, and Balochki often used for the local languages and replace them with a single word "Siraiki".