Kashmiris of Punjab
| Regions with significant populations | |
|---|---|
| Various parts of Punjab | |
| Languages | |
| Kashmiri · Punjabi · Urdu | |
| Religion | |
| Islam | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Kashmiri diaspora |
The Kashmiris of Punjab are ethnic Kashmiris who have historically migrated from the Kashmir Valley and settled in the Punjab region. Many ethnic Kashmiri Muslims from the Kashmir Valley had migrated to the Punjab region during Dogra and Sikh rule.
Heavy taxes under the Sikh rule, coupled with famine and starvation, caused many Kashmiri peasants to migrate to the plains of Punjab. These claims, made in Kashmiri histories, were corroborated by European travelers. When one such European traveler, Moorcroft, left the Valley in 1823, about 500 emigrants accompanied him across the Pir Panjal Pass. The 1833 famine resulted in many people leaving the Kashmir Valley and migrating to the Punjab, with the majority of weavers leaving Kashmir. Weavers settled down for generations in the cities of Punjab such as Jammu and Nurpur. The 1833 famine led to a large influx of Kashmiris into Amritsar. Kashmir's Muslims in particular suffered and had to leave Kashmir in large numbers, while Hindus were not much affected. Sikh rule in Kashmir ended in 1846 and was followed by the rule of Dogra Hindu maharajahs who ruled Kashmir as part of their princely state of Jammu and Kashmir. Muslims faced severe oppression under Hindu rule.
A large number of Muslim Kashmiris migrated from the Kashmir Valley to the Punjab due to conditions in the princely state such as famine, extreme poverty and harsh treatment of Kashmiri Muslims by the Dogra Hindu regime. According to the 1911 Census there were 177,549 Kashmiri Muslims in the Punjab. With the inclusion of Kashmiri settlements in NWFP this figure rose to 206,180.
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