Sindhis ( (Perso-Arabic), सिन्धी (Devanagari), (Khudabadi)) are a Sindhi-speaking ethnic group primarily of Indo-Aryan origin native to the Sindh province of modern-day Pakistan. Sindhi culture is highly influenced by Sufi doctrines and principles. Some of the popular cultural icons are Raja Dahir, Shah Abdul Latif Bhitai, Lal Shahbaz Qalandar, Jhulelal, Sachal Sarmast and Shambumal Tulsiani. After independence of Pakistan in 1947, most Hindu and Sikh Sindhis migrated to India and other parts of the world, though, in 1998, Hindus still constituted about 16% of the total Sindhi population in Pakistan. Sindhi Hindus also believe in tenets of Sikhism but are predominantly Sahajdhari. As a result, this group of Sindhis can be regarded as concurrently following both Hinduism and Sikhism. There are 40 million Sindhis living in Pakistan, with 39.5 million in Sindh, and over 500,000 living in other provinces. About 16% of the population of Sindhis in Pakistan are Hindus. Most of them live in urban areas like Karachi, Hyderabad, Sukkur, and Mirpur Khas. Hyderabad is the largest centre of Sindhi Hindus in Pakistan with 100,000-150,000 people.
