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The term Hindu is, by etymological definition derived from the Sindhu river (the modern day Indus). Thus, in many ways, the land which is today's heavily Muslim Pakistan may have played an important part in the birth of Hinduism.

The possible origins of Hinduism in Modern-Day Pakistan

What is today Pakistan is where the ancient Harappa Civilization thrived and it is conjectured that Hinduism may have its roots during the pre-Aryan period, but this remains unproven. Various archaeological finds such as "Lord of the Beasts" image on the seals of the people of Mohenjodaro, in the Sindh province point to some early influences that may have shaped Hinduism. The Aryan tribes entered India through the Frontiers of modern Pakistan's border with Afghanistan, and crossed the Sindhu to sire the Vedas, Godfathers of Hinduism. Sindhu is a holy river for Hindus, second only to the River Ganga in the northeast of India. The religious beliefs and folklore of the Indus valley people have become a major part of the Hindu faith that evolved.

The Sindh kingdom and its rulers play an important role in the Indian epic story of the Mahabharata. In addition, there is the legend that the Pakistani city of Lahore was first founded by Luva, the son of Vishnu's Avatara, Rama of the epic saga Ramayana. The Gandhara kingdom of the Northwest, and the legendary Gandharva peoples are also a major part of Hindu folktales and literature like the Ramayana and the Mahabharata. And destroyed by Muslim invaders was the gigantic and rich Sun Mandir near Multan in today's south Punjab province.

During the reign of Ashoka, Buddhism grew and thrived in the area, especially under the later rule of Kanishka, king of the Kushan Empire. With the ascent of the Gupta Dynasty, many Buddhists were returned to the Hindu fold in India, as Hindus adopted many of the teachings of the Buddha such as non-violence to all life, vegetarianism and proper treatment of fellow men. A substantial Buddhist community that rivalled the Hindus would remain in Pakistan until the Islamic conquests.

However, Vedic Hinduism was never strong in the Punjab and Sindh, especially with post-Gupta migrants like the Scythians and Parthians. In addition, a large Buddhist population remained in the Punjab and Sindh as Arab invaders attest to having encountered many 'Budd' statues of gold throughout the region. Due to the nature of the region as a borderland on the edge of South Asia many people more open and receptive to radically different ideologies like Islam and other Semitic faiths.

After Muhammad bin Qasim captured the Sindh and introduced Islam to Sindh and the Punjab, thousands of people converted to Islam often due to the influence of Sufis as Muslim rulers were hesistant to share power and generally did not seek converts to Islam. In over one thousand years of Muslim rule in the Punjab and Sindh, the population of Muslims outpaced the growth of Hinduism and Buddhism virtually disappeared, although relationships between people were peaceful and much more friendlier than in modern times. Many Muslims still retained many of the traditions and cultural influences of the times when some were a part of the original Hindu population. It was not uncommon at all to hear a Muslim greet a Hindu or another Muslim with the traditional greeting of Rama, Rama (taking the holy name of Rama is a common practice of respectful greeting in modern India.

On August 13 1947, the last day of the British Raj, the population percentage of Hindus in what is today Pakistan was roughly 10%, but would drop to its current 2% total following partition.

Hinduism and Partition

When Pakistan was created, over 20 million Hindus and Sikhs from what was East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) and Pakistan's Punjab and Sindh provinces left this new state for India. The reasons for this incredible exodus was the heavily charged communal atmosphere in British India, deep distrust of each other, the brutality of violent mobs and the antagonism between the religious communities. The fact that over 1 million people lost their lives in the bloody violence of 1947, should attest to the fear and hate that filled the hearts of millions of Muslims and Hindus who had to leave ancestral homes during partition.

Many Hindus who attained great success in the public eye in India, like the filmstars Dev Anand, Raj Kapoor, and Sunil Dutt trace their birthplaces and ancestral homes to the towns of Pakistan. Independent India's first Test cricket captain, Lala Amarnath hailed from Lahore. Nearly all of these individuals left their homes due to the violence and turmoil of partition.

In 1947, Pakistan still had a significant Hindu population which was economically and culturally important, especially in Sindh. Most of the Hindus lived in East Pakistan, which in 1971 gained independence as Bangladesh. It was the language and culture of Bengal, which has its roots in the Hindu script, culture and history of the region, which became a wedge between the more Punjabi and Urduized West Pakistan which insisted upon Urdu as the sole national language. Following a deeply charged political crisis, the Pakistani army began attacking rebellious Bengalis and supporters of Bengali autonomy. A genocide soon evolved and resulted in the deaths of 2 million or more Bengalis and over 10-15 million Bengalis, mainly Hindus fled into India. This led to the Civil War of 1969-1971, and finally in the liberation of the East as Bangladesh in the Bangladesh Liberation War of 1971. Thus, Pakistan was left with an even smaller and less vibrant Hindu population.

For more information about Hindus in Bangladesh, SEE Hinduism in Bangladesh.

The Future of Pakistani Hindus

Since Pakistan declared itself an Islamic nation and pursued a decidely Islamic course in its political and social life since the 1980s, Hindus as a minority have had considerably fewer privileges, rights and protections in comparison to India, which constitutionally avowed itself secular, offered its religious minorities including the Muslim, Christian and Sikh communities, although the rise of Hindu nationalism has led to communal conflict in India as well. Subsequent cultural marginalization, discrimination, economic hardships and religious persecution have resulted in many Hindus leaving Pakistan, and today's Pakistani Hindu population dwindling to less than 1.5% of the total.

Pakistan's Hindus live primarily in the Sindh province, living and working as merchants, laborers, agricultural workers and farmers of small holdings. In the city of Karachi there are roughly 70,000 Hindus today. Herein they are merchants, servants and employees of service industries. The ethnicities of Pakistani Hindus include Sindhis, Gujaratis and Punjabis. They speak Sindhi, Gujarati, English and some Urdu, as per their ethnic origin and place in common life.

The Indus river is a holy one to many Hindus, and the Pakistan government periodically allows small groups of Hindus from Pakistan and India to make pilgrimage, though most Hindus are forced to do this along the banks of the river that flows through a small part of Indian-controlled Kashmir.

The communal violence of the 1940s and the subsequent persecutions have resulted in the destruction of thousands of Hindu temples, although the Hindu community and the Pakistani government have preserved and protected many prominent ones.

Hindus are allotted separate electorates to vote by, but their political importance is virtually null. The Pakistan Hindu Panchayat is the primary civic organization that represents and organizes Hindu communities on social, economic, religious and political issues. There are minority commissions and for a while, a Ministry of Minority Affairs in the Government of Pakistan that looked after specific issues concerning Pakistani religious minorities.

The intense religious conservatism and politically charged environment in Pakistani Punjab offer limited freedoms for Hindus. Outside such an environment, Karachi's city culture allows for a secular environment that gives much needed opportunities to minorities like Hindus. Though Islamization, cultural and political has swept the country since the 1980s, the secular institutions established in British times allow Hindus to take advantage of education, sports, cultural activities, government services and participate in mainstream Pakistani life. Prominent Pakistani Hindus include Karachi's Danish Kaneria, who has recently become Pakistan's premier leg spin bowler in cricket.

Even so, the increasing Islamization has caused many Hindus to leave Pakistan and seek refuge in India. Such Islamization like the blasphemy laws, which make it incredibly treacherous and dangerous for religious minorities to express themselves freely and engage freely in religious and cultural activities. The promulgation of Shariat, Koranic law has also increased the marginalization of Hindus and other minorities. Following the destruction in 1992 of the Babri Mosque in Bharat, riots and persecution of Hindus in retaliation has only increased; Hindus in Pakistan are routinely affected by communal incidents in India and violent developments on the Kashmir conflict between the two nations. It remains the hope of many that a permanent peace between the two nations will go a long way in making life better for the roughly 3.3 million Hindus living in Pakistan.

• Hinduism by country
• Religion in Pakistan