[1][2] Bakarwal Gurjars is one of the largest Muslim tribe and the third-largest ethnic community in the Indian part of Jammu and Kashmir.

[3][4][5] They spread over a large area from Pir Panjal to Zanskar located in the Himalayan mountains of India.

[6][page needed] As sheep and goat rearing transhumants, the Bakarwals alternate with the seasons between high and low altitudes in the hills of the Himalayas.

[6][page needed] As of 1991[update], the Bakarwal were classified as a Scheduled Tribe under the Indian government's general reservation program of positive discrimination.

[11][12] In 1991 the Bakarwals, Gaddis and Gujjar were granted tribal status in Jammu and Kashmir by the Indian government after an exhaustive study.