Some members of ethnic minorities of China, primarily Muslim Uyghurs from Xinjiang, have historically migrated to and settled in the northern parts of Pakistan.
Most of these Uyghurs used to have warehouses and residences in towns in the North and in parts of upper Punjab and used to travel between Kashgar and Yarkand and these places, regularly.
[9] As of 2020[update], community leaders estimated their total numbers at 2,000[10] to 3,000 people, with 800 at Gilgit, another 2,000 at Rawalpindi, 100 at the border town of Sust on the Karakoram Highway and the remainder scattered throughout the rest of the country.
A number of Uyghurs residing in Pakistan; especially remote northwestern mountainous tribal areas have been engaged in militancy and carrying out terrorist attacks on local military and civilian targets.
[5] In 1997, fourteen Uyghur students with Chinese nationality studying in Pakistan were deported back to China after they organised a sympathy protest in support of riots in Ghulja; Amnesty International claims that they were executed.
[18] Hotanabad was shut down in December 2000, a situation which the Uyghur American Association also attributes to pressure from China, which expressed concerns about these centers of facilitating recruitment for extremism against Beijing.