Hinduism in Pakistan

Pakistani Hindus are Hindus of full or partial Pakistani descent. Constituting 2.00% of Pakistan's population, the last Pakistan census divided Hindus into Jāti (1.6%) and scheduled castes (0.25%).

After Pakistan gained independence from Britain on 14 August 1947, 4.4 million of the country's Hindus and Sikhs migrated to India while 4.1 million Muslims moved from India to live in Pakistan. The 1998 census of Pakistan recorded less than 2.5 million Hindus. The overwhelming majority of Hindus in Pakistan are concentrated in Sindh province.

History

Hinduism, once a major religion in present-day Pakistan along with Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism, has endured many invasions, migrations, conquests and the settlements of many tribes and ethnic groups. There has been historical decline in all these religions in Pakistan for a variety of reasons, even as they have continued to flourish beyond the country's eastern borders. These regions became predominantly Muslim during the rule of the Delhi Sultanate and later Mughal Empire due to missionary Sufi saints whose dargahs dot the landscape of Pakistan and the rest of South Asia. After Pakistan became independent in 1947, 4.4 million Hindus and Sikhs migrated to India.