Hinduism in Pakistan

The Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a Muslim-majority country in western South Asia. In addition to Hindus, other non-Muslim groups in Pakistan include Christians, Baha’is, Sikhs, Parsis, and Buddhists. The Ahmadiyya community, an Islamic sect originating in the 19th century around Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, is also considered a non-Muslim minority in Pakistan. Hindus comprise around 1.6–2.9 percent of Pakistan’s overall population, and 90 percent of them live in the province of Sindh. The study of Hinduism in Pakistan, therefore, needs to take the sociopolitical and economic particularities of Sindh into account. Both in Sindh and Pakistan, Hinduism is as complex as in other parts of the world. Hindus, especially in rural areas, follow local Sufi pīrs (Urdu, “spiritual guides”) and adhere to the 14th-century saint Ramdevji, whose main temple is in the Sindhi city of Thando Allah Yar. Many urban Hindu youths in Pakistan participate in the Westernized ISKCON society. Some Hindus worship Mother Goddesses as clan or family patrons, whom, at times, they appease with animal blood sacrifices. Others (e.g., Nanakpanthis) follow the teachings of the Guru Granth Sahib or the holy book of the Sikhs. This diversity challenges the taxonomies that separate Hinduism, Sikhism, and Islam as distinct religions. It also complicates the relationship between Hinduism in Pakistan and the Islamic Republic’s nationalism. This relationship has its roots in the two-nation theory (Urdu, do qaumī naz̤ariyah), which claims that Muslims and Hindus are two distinct nations that can only thrive through geopolitical separation—an idea that arguably led to Partition in 1947. Pakistani historiography often represents the two-nation theory as a necessary Muslim reaction to Hindu suppression and dominance during the period of British rule. After Pakistan’s creation in 1947 (and especially after wars with India in 1965 and 1971), Hindus became increasingly perceived and portrayed as a national threat. While frequently free to practice their faith, the historical predicament of the two-nation theory impacts the everyday lives of Hindus in Pakistan on many different levels.

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Jürgen Schaflechner
Freie Universität Berlin