page_title: Pathans in India
section_title: Entertainment industry
hierarchical_section_title: Pathans in India / Entertainment industry
caption_attribution_description: English: Soha Ali Khan at the Shaadi By Marriott fashion show
context_page_description: Pathans in India are citizens or residents of India who are of ethnic Pashtun ancestry. "Pathan" is the local Hindustani term for an individual who belongs to the Pashtun ethnic group, or descends from it. The term additionally finds mention among Western sources, mainly in the colonial-era literature of British India. Historically, the term "Afghan" was also synonymous with the Pathans. The Pathans originate from the Pashtun region of neighbouring Pakistan and Afghanistan in the northwest, and form a part of the Pashtun diaspora.
  There are varying estimates of the population of Pathan descent living in India, ranging from 3.2 million people per the All India Pakhtoon Jirga-e-Hind to around 10 million. Khan Mohammad Atif, an academic at the University of Lucknow, estimates that the total population of Pathans in India may be "twice their population in Afghanistan". In the 2011 Census of India, 21,677 individuals reported Pashto as their mother tongue.
  Large-scale Pashtun migration into India began in the 11th and 12th centuries, as a result of the many Muslim empires and dynasties founded by Pashtuns on the Indian subcontinent.
caption: Soha Ali Khan, an actress belonging to the Pataudi family.
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