پاکستانی یہودی יהודים פקיסטנים | |
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Pakistani Jews (Urdu:پاکستانی یہودی) are a small, historic community, mainly inKarachi. Most Pakistani Jews migrated toIsrael after 1948. Jewish history in Pakistan goes back to 1839 when Pakistan was part ofBritish India.[1][2] Various estimates suggest that there were about 50,000 to 60,000Jews living in Pakistan at the beginning of the 20th century, mostly comprisingIranian Jews andBene Israel;[3][4][5] a substantial Jewish community lived inRawalpindi,[1] and a smaller community also lived inPeshawar.
ThePartition of India in August 1947 led to the establishment of two independent sovereign states: aHindu-majorityIndia and aMuslim-majorityPakistan. Following this event, Pakistani Jews began to leave the new country for India,Canada and theUnited States before the rise oftheir persecution in Pakistan after the establishment of Israel in 1948, which ultimately led totheir exodus from the country; today, Pakistani Jews are predominantly found in the Israeli city ofRamla, while theGovernment of Pakistan claims to host a modest Jewish population. According to Pakistan'sNational Database and Registration Authority (NADRA), there are 745 registered Jewish families in the country.[6] However, the accuracy and transparency of the NADRA's database has been challenged;[7]Liel Leibovitz, an Israeli journalist, has doubted the correctness of the official numbers.[8]
It has been widely reported in Pakistani media that a man known as Fishel Benkhald, who preserves the last standingJewish cemetery in Karachi, has claimed to be last Jew in Pakistan.[9][10] However, Benkhald's identity has been challenged by his brothers, who claim to be Muslims,[11][12] and he has been targeted and attacked in the country due to his activism forreligious minorities in Pakistan. However, hisJewishness was formally recognized by the Pakistani government in 2017 after numerous appeals.[13]
A community of Jews fleeing arevolt inMashhad,Persia, settled inRawalpindi,Punjab in 1839 when the city was ruled by theSikh Empire. This Jewish community in Rawalpindi constructed a synagogue in the early 1900s, which is located in Rawalpindi's Babu Mohallah neighborhood.[1]
According to the 1881 census, there were 153 Jews inSind Division, which is modern-daySindh.[14] In the Sindh Gazetteer of 1907,[15]Edward Hamilton Aitken mentions that, according to the 1901 census, the total population of Jews in Sindh was 482, and almost all of them lived in Karachi.[16] By 1919, this figure had risen to about 650.[17] By 1947, there were about 1,500 Jews living in Sindh with the majority residing in Karachi. Most of these Jews were Bene Israel and they lived astraders,artisans, poets,philosophers and civil servants.[18]
In 1911, Jews constituted 0.3% of Karachi's population and at the time of independence from theBritish Empire, their number had reached 2,500.[19] Pakistani histiographer,Gul Hassan Kalmati, who focused extensively on the culture and history of Karachi, indicates that Jews arrived in Karachi fromMaharashtra in the 19th century.[20][21]
A variety of associations existed to serve the Jewish community in Pakistan, including:
Leading up to the time of thePartition of India,[23] some 1300 Jews remained in Karachi, most of them Bene Israel Jews observingSephardic Jewish rites.[24] The first real exodus of Jewish refugees from British India to Bombay and other cities in India came just prior to the creation of Israel in 1948 whenantisemitism spread to Pakistan.[25][26] When Israel came into being in 1948, many Jews migrated to Israel, and after the Arab-Israel war a majority of them left Karachi.[27] By 1953, fewer than 500 Jews were reported to be in all of Pakistan.[28]
Magen Shalom, the Bene Israel's only synagogue in Karachi founded under the British Raj, was demolished in 1988 to make way for a shopping plaza by order of GeneralZia-ul-Haq shortly after the Bene Israel community in Israel petitioned for its maintenance and use as a historical or other community center.[29] As per another account, in July 1988 the synagogue was burnt and brought down by religious zealots (where today a building 'Madiha Square' stands).[30] The last custodian of the synagogue was Rachel Joseph, now deceased.[31][32][33] Many Jews who migrated from Pakistan have not updated their status since leaving Pakistan in NADRA's database so the database must be old and there may not actually be as many Jewish Pakistanis left in Pakistan despite NADRA showing existence of Jews in Pakistan.[citation needed]
Dan Kiesel, a Jew of German origin, was employed as a physiotherapist by thePakistan Cricket Board from 1995 to 1999. His appointment brought some controversy, as Pakistani politicians questioned the hiring an Israeli Jew in the Senate of Pakistan.[34]
The term "Yehudi" and its variants remains a word of derision when directed at a Bene Israel or anyone else as noted by Reverend John Wilson, one of the founders of University of Bombay (now University of Mumbai). InUrdu (the national language of Pakistan), however, the word simply translates to 'Jewish'.[35] The Bene Israel's prayers include intercessions on behalf of His Majesty as in several Commonwealth countries.[36] The Jewish Chronicle of London reported on Karachi's Jews as recently as 2007.[37]
Ingeneral elections 2013, it was reported that 809 adult Jews were enrolled as voters. The number of Jewish women voters was 427 against 382 men in the community.[38] By 2017, according to theElection Commission of Pakistan around 900 Jews were registered as voters in the country.[39] Also in 2017 According to theNational Database and Registration Authority, there are 745 registered Jewish families in Pakistan.[40]
Most of the Karachi Jews now live inRamla, Israel;Mumbai,India;Toronto, Canada; and theUnited States.
The creation of Israel and theArab–Israeli conflict led to a rise in anti-Semitism in Pakistan. The Synagogue was demolished in 1988.[41] Incidents of violence against Jews started occurring following the establishment of Israel, creating a sense of insecurity within the community in Karachi. Karachi'sMagain Shalome Synagogue was set ablaze, and attacks on Jews escalated after each Arab-Israeli war—in 1948, 1956, and 1967.[41] Since the 1970s, anti-Semitism has significantly mounted.[42]
The Jewish Bene Israel Graveyard remains in the largerMewa Shah Graveyard in Karachi.[43][44]
In 1911 they constituted 0.3 per cent of the city's population and at the time of partition their number had reached 2,500.
In a paper titled "Karachi Ke Yahudi" ("Jewish Karachi"), Kalmatti indicated that Jews arrived in Karachi from Maharashtra (now the state in western India that includes Mumbai) in the 19th century – when, of course, there was no Pakistan, as the British ruled over all of the Indian subcontinent.
When in 1948 Israel came into being a lot of Jews migrated to Israel, and after the Arab-Israel war a majority of them left the city.
Mr Kalmatti, the only speaker of the day who spoke in Urdu, said in 1988 the synagogue was burnt and brought down by religious zealots.
Rachel Joseph, until her death, claimed that the property developers had promised her and her brother Ifraheem Joseph an apartment in the new building, and also space for a small synagogue.
After his death, his sister, R. Rachel Joseph, became the last known survivor of the community in the country.
The counsel alleged that trustee Rachel Joseph, in violation of the prevailing laws, regarding sale and transfer of properties allocated to minority communities, executed certain conveyance deeds in favour of private respondents Aftabuddin Qureshi and Ahmed Elahi.
The Jewish Chronicle of London reported on Karachi's Jews as recently as 2007, on the 60th anniversary of the founding of Pakistan.
Among other religious communities, around 900 are Jews.
We cannot ignore the fact that before the 1970s there generally were no anti-Semitic feelings towards the Jews of Pakistan.
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