Cockfighting chickens (Aseel) are popular in Pakistan primarily for their fighting behavior, good quality meat and as an attractive household bird. Seals depicting domestication of cockfighting chickens in Pakistan is as old as 2500 BC. Nevertheless, the exact origin of these chickens in Pakistan is not yet known. Pakistan is home to an estimated four to seven distinct varieties of cockfighting chickens. This study aimed to understand the phenotypic and genotypic diversity of Pakistani indigenous cockfighting chickens (ICC). For this purpose, a total of 185 samples of Pakistani ICC were obtained and evaluated for both phenotypic and genotypic diversity. The phenotypic data obtained were evaluated for both qualitative and quantitative characteristics of cockfighting chickens. Qualitatively, Aseel chickens were characterized by red, black, white, and wheaten plumage; yellow and brown shank; yellow beak with black patches; small earlobes; pea comb; yellow eye color and minimal wattles. Overall, the Aseels displayed great diversity with respect to its plumage. Quantitatively, Mianwali Aseel showed significantly lower estimates of mean body weight and body circumference than all other studied varieties (p≤0.05). Contrastingly, Kulung and Sindhi Aseels showed significantly higher estimates (p≤0.05) of mean body weight compared to all other Aseels. Mean breast widths, keel lengths, pelvis lengths and body circumferences did not showed any significant difference among the studied varieties (p≥0.05). Interestingly, Mianwali Aseel showed significantly higher estimates of mean drum length than Mushka, Sindhi, Kulung and Peshawari Aseels. Furthermore, mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) hyper variable region (HV1) was sequenced to understand the phylogeny of ICC populations. Median-joining networks and Neighbor-Joining (NJ) trees were constructed by the 43 haplotypes which were generated from 38 polymorphic nucleotides sites. As a result, four distinct haplogroups (A, B, C, D) were emerged. Collectively, haplogroup D showed highest diversity (81.6%) followed by haplogroup A (15.1%), B (2.7%) and C (0.5%). Phylogenetic analysis of the data revealed that ICC and Gallus gallus murghi shared hyplogroup D. Likewise, the haplotype and nucleotide diversity ranged 0.643-0.909 and 0.00585-0.01575, respectively. The overall, high genetic diversity among individuals of ICC populations was noticed 91.52%, thus showing least genetic differentiation among the sub-populations (8.48%). Statistical tests showed extensive population expansion within the ICC population. Thus, our results showed that Pakistan, like Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia, might have been one of the centres for domestication for cockfighting chickens. A South to North declining trend of haplogroup A in our data indicates the emergence of this haplogroup A towards Southern Pakistan in the recent past. Moreover, comparison of our data with other studies around the world showed significant variations, which could be attributed to the underlying differences in the geographies, selection pressures, regional practices within each country and multiple origin of cockfighting chickens over the world. Dispersal of cockfighting chickens around the world reflects the past trading routes between human communities and civilizations.