Lasi (Sub-divided into following casts "Moondra"Khaskhelli,"Jamot", "Roonjha", "Sheikh", "Angaria" and "Burraf") (Urdu: لاسی) is a tribe settled in Lasbela District of Balochistan, Pakistan.
The term Lasi is a geographical name, which is even applied to all other tribes i.e. Baloch, Brahvi, Med, Khoja and Hindus who are settled in Lasbela.
The population of Lasbela presents many features of special interest to the ethnologist. The first historical reference to the ancient population of Lasbela and Makran is to be found in Arrian, who divides the population into two distinct classes. The people of the coast whom he names the Ichthyophagoi or fish-eaters and the population of the interior, the Arabi, the Oreitai and the Gadrosia of Gadrosia or Gedrosia. Several other authors have described the strange race of the Ichthyophagoi who are undoubtedly identifiable with the present fishermen of the coast.
| “ | The principal tribes among the Lasis claim to be descendants of the Sammas who formerly resided in Sindh. Their tribal names certainly indicate that many of them are of Hindu origin. | ” |
Afterwards, the district appears to have come under the influence of the Sammas, who asserted their independence when the power of the Abbasid caliphs declined. The Sumras gained a position of supremacy in the middle of the eleventh century. They were eventually overthrown by the Sammas under Jam Umar in 1333. The Sammas reigned till 1523 when they were defeated and their power was completely broken by Shah Hussain Argon. The succeeding period is again obscure. The chiefs of the Gujar, Ranjha, Gunga and Burfat tribes, who are still to be found in Lasbela, are said to have exercised a semi-independent power previous to the rise of the Aliani family of the Jamoot tribe, to which the present Jam of Lasbela belongs.
The principal Lasi tribes are only five in number, namely Jamot, Moondra, Roonjha, Sheikh, Angaria and Burraf. These are called the Panjraj or the five tribal confederacies. Under each Raj are a large number of heterogeneous groups.