Tajiks in Pakistan

Tajiks in Pakistan are residents of Pakistan who are of Tajik ancestry. The Tajiks are a Persian-speaking Iranian ethnic group native to Central Asia, living primarily in Afghanistan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. There are also Afghan Tajiks refugees in Pakistan. According to the Ministry of States and Frontier Regions in 2005, at least 7.3% of all Afghans living in Pakistan or roughly 221,000 individuals were categorised as ethnic Tajiks. There are also expatriates from Tajikistan. During the ninth and tenth centuries, the western regions of Pakistan were part of the Samanid Empire, which was an Iranian dynasty of Tajik roots. The Samanid dynasty is also referred to as the "first Tajik state". The Ghurid dynasty and associated Tajik Vassal State of Swatis, called Gabri Pakhli, which existed between the ninth and 12th centuries, also ruled over parts of modern Pakistan. Pakistan and Tajikistan are separated by a narrow strip of Afghan territory known as the Wakhan Corridor. The Gojal, Ishkoman and Yasin valleys of northern Pakistan's Gilgit-Baltistan region, as well as Chitral district, are home to a significant native population of Pamiri Tajiks, known as the Wakhis. They speak the Wakhi language, which is a distantly related dialect to Persian. The Wakhi Tajik Cultural Association represents and promotes Wakhi culture in Pakistan. In addition, there were 221,725 Afghan Tajiks living in Pakistan in 2005, according to a census by the Ministry of States and Frontier Regions. They were amongst the massive influx of Afghan immigrants to Pakistan following the Soviet–Afghan War outbreak in 1979, while others arrived during the Afghan civil wars starting in 1992 and 1996 to escape the Taliban regime, or more recently, the post-2001 war in Afghanistan. Tajiks comprised 7.3% of the Afghan population in Pakistan, making them the second largest ethnicity after Pashtuns who formed 81.5% of immigrants. The census showed that they were divided into 42,480 families. In terms of sex ratio, 112,819 individuals (50.