Uzbeks in Pakistan

The Uzbeks (Uzbek: Oʻzbek, Ўзбек, اۉزبېک, plural: Oʻzbeklar, Ўзбеклар, اۉزبېکلر) were one of the first Karluk Turks to arrive in the modern-day region of Pakistan, they ruled the area of Pakhli (modern-day Hazara) for over 200 years from 1472 to 1703. Uzbeks form a significant minority group in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province and FATA (Federally administrated Tribal areas) of Pakistan.

There are many Uzbek immigrants in Pakistan from Central Asian countries, mainly Afghanistan and Uzbekistan. Around 2.3% of the Afghans residing in Pakistan are ethnic Uzbeks. The Afghan War drove them to Pakistan. In 1981, many Afghan Uzbek refugees in Pakistan moved to Turkey to join the existing communities based in Kayseri, Izmir, Ankara and Zeytinburnu. The Uzbeks can be found mainly in north-west Pakistan, comprising the areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (in particular Peshawar), Gilgit-Baltistan and Balochistan. 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 various 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 conflicts, such as Syria.