Pakistan's fading Parsi community looks abroad

For more than 1,000 years, Parsis have thrived in South Asia but an ageing population and emigration to the West driven by instability in Pakistan means the tiny community of "fire worshippers" could could soon be consigned to the country's history books.
The ancestors of today's Parsis in Pakistan -- followers of Zoroastrianism, one of the world's oldest religions -- fled Persia over a millennium ago for the safety of the western Indian subcontinent.
Legend has it Parsi leader Jadi Rana made a pledge to the then emperor of India that Zoroastrians, known in the region as Parsis, would not be a burden but would blend in like sugar into milk.

But today they are a fading people across the subcontinent, with many affluent families from India and Pakistan leaving for the West.
The community, which has long been active in business and charity, has been unnerved by the upsurge in Islamist extremist violence. One expert said the loss of the Parsis would be a "huge blow" to Pakistan's diversity.
Only around 1,500 are left in Karachi, Pakistan's largest city, where they have "fire temples", community centres and final resting places -- where the remains of their dead are left in the open to be consumed by vultures according to their tradition.

Parsis are often called "fire worshippers" because their religion considers fire -- together with water -- as agents of purity and fires are lit as part of religious ceremonies.

They have long been discreet in observing their faith, but some, like 23-year-old art student Veera Rustomji, think they need to do more to preserve their heritage.
"It's been successful (in) that we have been an unattacked and unharmed community because of our low profile," she said at her studio at the Indus Valley College.
"But at the same time it backfires because a lot of people focus on how the community is becoming small numerically."

Rustomji has traced her family's past in Hong Kong, where Parsis founded a university, a ferry service and hospitals. It is this link to business as well as charity that Byram Avari, the head of the Avari chain, one of Pakistan's leading luxury hotel groups, said has allowed the community to build an enduring relationship with Karachi.
"Before partition the ladies maternity home called Lady Duferfin hospital was put up (by) the Parsis, the NED college, now medical college, the Spencer Eye hospital and I cannot tell you how many numerous things have been set up by the Parsis for people of Karachi," he told AFP.

Parsis believe "in giving back what they had," he added.