At the time of the partition of India in 1947, the Muslim Qalandar of east Punjab, which included Panipat and Karnal, moved to Pakistan, joining groups who were already settled there.
[1] In North India, some Qalandar began leading bears, monkeys, and other performing animals with which they wandered, announcing their presence with an hourglass-shaped drum called a damru, which was used in their performances for emphasis, while a larger group settled in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, and Bengal and began a sedentary life while continuing to hold their traditional mystic religious beliefs[clarification needed].
In addition, the traditional occupation of bear fighting has received much criticism from animal rights activists in the West and has been banned in India.
[1] In Pakistan, bears are trapped by members of the Kohistani ethnic group and then sold to the Qalandar in markets in Peshawar and Rawalpindi.
The Qalandar are an extremely marginalized group, suffering from discrimination, and often victims of abuse by state officials such as the police or municipal staff.