Hinduism in Pakistan

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Pakistani Hindus

Danish Kaneria, Anil Dalpat, Deepak Perwani, Rana Bhagwandas
Total population
2.5-4.5 million(2005) 1.6-1.85% of the Pakistani Population
Regions with significant populations
predominantly Sindh with minorities in [[Balochistan (Pakistan)|Balochistan]], Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
Languages
Predominantly Sindhi with small minorities  • Punjabi • English

After the independence of Pakistan on 14 August 1947, the majority of the minority Hindus and Sikhs in the territory of Pakistan migrated to India while the Muslims refugees from India settled down in the Pakistan. Approximately 6 million Hindus and Sikhs moved to India while nearly an equal number of Muslims migrated to Pakistan from India. Today, only 26 out of 428 Hindu temples are functional due to the slow but steady migration of Hindus to India after Pakistan's independence in 1947. Still, Pakistan is home to the world's fifth largest Hindu population. The 1998 Census of Pakistan recorded less than 2.5 million Hindus. The ovewhelming majority of Hindus in Pakistan are concentrated in the Sindh province.

In 1951, Hindus constituted 22 percentage of the Pakistani population (this includes East Pakistan, modern day Bangladesh); Today, the share of Hindus are down to 1.7 percent in Pakistan, and 9.2 percent in Bangladesh (In 1951, Bangladesh alone had 22% Hindu population)

History

See also: History of Hinduism, Indus Valley Civilization, and Vedic civilisation

Hinduism, once a major religion in present-day Pakistan along with Buddhism, has endured many invasions, migrations, conquests and settlement of many tribes and ethnic groups. There has been historical decline of Hinduism, Buddhism and Sikhism in the areas of Pakistan. This happened for a variety of reasons even as these religions have continued to flourish beyond the eastern frontiers of Pakistan. These region became predominantly Muslim during the rule of Delhi Sultanate and later Mughal Empire due to missionary Sufi saints whose dargahs dot the landscape of Pakistan and rest of South Asia.

Ancient Ages

Various archaeological finds such as swastika symbol, yogic postures, what appears to be like a "Pasupati" image that was found on the seals of the people of Mohenjo-daro, in Sindh, point to early influences that may have shaped Hinduism. A group of people known as Aryans are thought to have migrated from regions like Bactria–Margiana Archaeological Complex, Central Asia, Iran, Eastern Europe or Russia, crossed the river Sindhu, and mingled with the Dravidians, the indigenous people. The religious beliefs and folklore of the Indus valley people have become a major part of the Hindu faith that evolved in this part of the South Asia.

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 Lava, while Kasur was founded by his twin Kusha, both of whome were the sons of Rama of the Ramayana. The Gandhara kingdom of the northwest, and the legendary Gandhara peoples are also a major part of Hindu literature such as the Ramayana and the Mahabharata. Most Pakistani city names (such as Peshawar, Multan) can be traced back to Sanskrit roots.

Demography

Shri Swaminarayan Mandir, Karachi

Hindus as pecentage of total population in districts of Pakistan. It can be seen that there are hardly any Hindus in the Northern part except for Sialkot in Punjab and Kohat in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.

In August 1947, at the end of British Raj, the population percentage of Hindus in what is today Pakistan was perhaps 15% or higher, but would drop to its current total of 3.3% in the years since independence. According to the 1998 Pakistan Census, caste Hindus constitute about 1.6 percent of the total population of Pakistan and about 6.6% in province of Sindh. The Pakistan Census separates Schedule Castes from the main body of Hindus who make up a further 0.25% of national population. The total number of Hindus in Pakistan, including Scheduled Castes, however, is often suspected to be much higher than what was reported in the 1998 Census. According to unofficial reports, experts, and politicians, the real number of Dalits in Pakistan exceeds 2 million as opposed to 500,000 while the number of other caste Hindus is far higher than the 1.6% reported in the last census.

Based on the 1998 Census as well as the stabilization of Pakistan's Hindu population since then, Pakistan would, today, have roughly 3 million Hindus.

Pakistan Hindu population by districts

According to 1998 Census:

DISTRICT	PROVINCE	Hindu Pop	Pop	H%
PAKISTAN	PAKISTAN	2,443,614	132,352,000	1.846%
Chitral	Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa	2	318,689	0.001%
Upper Dir	Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa	22	575,858	0.004%
Lower Dir	Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa	24	717,649	0.003%
Swat	Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa	158	1,257,602	0.013%
Shangla	Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa	14	434,563	0.003%
Buner	Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa	389	506,048	0.077%
Malakand	Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa	142	452,291	0.031%
Kohistan	Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa	6	472,570	0.001%
Manshera	Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa	72	1,152,839	0.006%
Batgram	Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa	117	307,278	0.038%
Abbotabad	Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa	40	880,666	0.005%
Haripur	Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa	36	692,228	0.005%
Mardan	Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa	283	1,460,100	0.019%
Swabi	Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa	106	1,026,804	0.010%
Charsadda	Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa	104	1,022,364	0.010%
Peshawar	Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa	1,224	2,019,118	0.061%
Nowshera	Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa	666	874,373	0.076%
Kohat	Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa	798	562,644	0.142%
Hangu	Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa	156	314,529	0.050%
Karak	Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa	10	430,796	0.002%
Bannu	Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa	220	675,667	0.033%
Lakki Marwat	Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa	8	490,025	0.002%
D.I.Khan	Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa	471	852,995	0.055%
Tank	Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa	22	238,216	0.009%
Fata Area	Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa	1,921	3,176,331	0.060%
Attock	Punjab	190	1,274,935	0.015%
Rawalpindi	Punjab	430	3,363,911	0.013%
Jhelum	Punjab	205	936,957	0.022%
Chakwal	Punjab	164	1,083,725	0.015%
Sargodha	Punjab	142	2,665,979	0.005%
Bhakkar	Punjab	33	1,051,456	0.003%
Khushab	Punjab	167	905,711	0.018%
Mianwali	Punjab	121	1,056,620	0.011%
Faisalabad	Punjab	903	5,429,547	0.017%
Jhang	Punjab	115	2,834,545	0.004%
Toba Tek Singh	Punjab	198	1,621,593	0.012%
Gujranwala	Punjab	110	3,400,940	0.003%
Hafizabad	Punjab	126	832,980	0.015%
Gujrat	Punjab	238	2,048,008	0.012%
Mandi Bahauddin	Punjab	302	1,160,552	0.026%
Sialkot	Punjab	3,577	2,723,481	0.131%
Narowal	Punjab	1,118	1,265,097	0.088%
Lahore	Punjab	1,607	6,318,745	0.025%
Kasur	Punjab	2,115	2,375,875	0.089%
Okara	Punjab	670	2,232,992	0.030%
Sheikhupura	Punjab	1,185	3,321,029	0.036%
Vihari	Punjab	343	2,090,416	0.016%
Sahiwal	Punjab	261	1,843,194	0.014%
Pak Pattan	Punjab	77	1,286,680	0.006%
Multan	Punjab	1,208	3,116,851	0.039%
Lodhran	Punjab	50	1,171,800	0.004%
Khanewal	Punjab	249	2,068,490	0.012%
D.G.Khan	Punjab	340	1,643,118	0.021%
Rajanpur	Punjab	526	1,103,618	0.048%
Layyah	Punjab	810	1,120,951	0.072%
Muzaffargarh	Punjab	1,115	2,635,903	0.042%
Bahawalpur	Punjab	22,606	2,433,091	0.929%
Bahawalnagar	Punjab	1,603	2,061,447	0.078%
Rahim Yar Khan	Punjab	73,506	3,141,053	2.340%
Jacobabad	Sindh	50,693	1,425,572	3.556%
Shikarpur	Sindh	15,855	880,438	1.801%
Larkana	Sindh	27,321	1,927,066	1.418%
Sukkur	Sindh	29,800	908,373	3.281%
Ghotki	Sindh	64,817	970,549	6.678%
Khairpur	Sindh	45,452	1,546,587	2.939%
Naushero Feroz	Sindh	14,458	1,087,571	1.329%
Nawabshah	Sindh	30,824	1,071,533	2.877%
Dadu	Sindh	34,490	1,688,811	2.042%
Hyderabad	Sindh	349,167	2,891,488	12.076%
Badin	Sindh	226,423	1,136,044	19.931%
Thatta	Sindh	32,139	1,113,194	2.887%
Sanghar	Sindh	292,687	1,453,028	20.143%
Mirpurkhas	Sindh	296,555	906,065	32.730%
Umerkot	Sindh	315,395	662,965	47.573%
Tharparkar	Sindh	369,998	914,291	40.468%
Karachi	Sindh	77,131	9,856,318	0.783%
Islamabad	Islamabad Capital Territory	195	805,235	0.024%
Gilgit-Baltistan	Gilgit-Baltistan	0	970,347	0.000%
Azad Kashmir	Azad Kashmir	0	2,972,501	0.000%
Quetta	Balochistan	4,175	744,802	0.561%
Pishin	Balochistan	47	367,183	0.013%
Qilla Abdullah	Balochistan	171	370,269	0.046%
Chagai	Balochistan	1,941	202,564	0.958%
Loralai	Balochistan	466	295,555	0.158%
Barkhan	Balochistan	117	103,545	0.113%
Qilla Saifullah	Balochistan	3	193,553	0.002%
Zhob	Balochistan	101	275,142	0.037%
Sibi	Balochistan	2,876	180,398	1.594%
Ziarat	Balochistan	0	33,340	0.000%
Kohlu	Balochistan	171	99,846	0.171%
Dera Bugti	Balochistan	1,399	181,310	0.772%
Jaffarabad	Balochistan	6,529	432,817	1.508%
Nasirabad	Balochistan	1,875	245,894	0.763%
Bolan	Balochistan	4,463	288,056	1.549%
Jhal Magsi	Balochistan	1,198	109,941	1.090%
Kalat	Balochistan	1,657	237,834	0.697%
Mastung	Balochistan	1,228	179,784	0.683%
Khuzdar	Balochistan	2,962	417,466	0.710%
Awaran	Balochistan	295	118,173	0.250%
Kharan	Balochistan	780	206,909	0.377%
Lasbela	Balochistan	4,504	312,695	1.440%
Kech	Balochistan	979	413,204	0.237%
Gwadar	Balochistan	721	185,498	0.389%
Panjgur	Balochistan	457	234,051	0.195%

Hinduism and Independence

See also: Partition of India

The Swaminarayan Temple in Karachi was a departure point for those migrating to India after indepenedence.

When Pakistan was formed in August 1947, over 8 million Hindus and Sikhs from what was East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) and Pakistan's Punjab, Sindh and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwas left for India, and a similar number of Muslims chose to migrate to Pakistan. The reasons for this incredible exodus was the heavily charged communal atmosphere in British Raj, 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, Hindus and Sikhs who had to leave ancestral homes during hastily after independence.

Many Hindus who attained great success in the public eye in India, like the filmstars and directors Dev Anand, Raj Kapoor, Ramesh Sippy, Vinod Khanna, Manoj Kumar, Rajkumar, Yash Chopra, Balraj Sahni, Rajendra Kumar 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, prime ministers I K Gujral and Manmohan Singh are also from the part of the Punjab which became part of Pakistan, and former deputy prime minister Lal Krishna Advani was born in Karachi. Nearly all of these individuals left their homes due to the violence and turmoil of independence.

Religious, social and political institutions

The Indus river is a holy river 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 in Pakistan, although the Hindu community and the Pakistani government have preserved and protected many prominent ones. The Hindu Gymkhana in Karachi has tried to promote social development for Hindus in the city. One of the few temples remaining in Karachi today is the Shri Swaminarayan Mandir, Karachi.

Hindus are allotted separate electorates to vote by, but their political importance is virtually nil^{[citation needed]}. The Pakistan Hindu Panchayat and the Pakistani Hindu Welfare Association are the primary civic organizations that represent and organise Hindu communities on social, economic, religious and political issues in most of the country, with the exception of the Shiv Temple Society Hazara, which especially represents community interests in the Hazara region of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, in addition to being the special guardians of the Shiva temple, at Chitti Gatti village, near Mansehra. There are minority commissions and for a while, a Ministry of Minority Affairs in the Government of Pakistan looked after specific issues concerning Pakistani religious minorities.

Community life

Karachi's city culture allows for a secular environment providing opportunities to Hindu minorities. Though Islamisation has swept the country since the 1980s, the secular institutions established during British rule allow Hindus to take advantage of education, sports, cultural activities, government services, and participate in mainstream Pakistani life. Prominent Pakistani Hindus include Pakistani cricketer Danish Kaneria, fashion designer Deepak Perwani, and former Chief Justice (Acting) of the Supreme Court of Pakistan Rana Bhagwandas. Many of the Muslims throughout Pakistan still prefer the community surnames of Hindu/Sikh ancestry such as 'Chouhan', 'Bhat', 'Rajput', 'Sodhi', and 'Chowdhury'.^{[citation needed]}

Persecution

Main articles: Persecution of Hindus in Pakistan and Anti-Hinduism in Pakistan

The increasing Islamisation of Pakistan and antagonism against India, a nation with a Hindu majority, has been an influential factor in the persecution of and discrimination against religious minorities, including Hindus. Such Islamisation include the blasphemy laws, which make it dangerous for religious minorities to express themselves freely and engage freely in religious and cultural activities. The promulgation of Sharia, Quranic law has also increased the marginalisation of Hindus and other minorities. Following the Babri Mosque riots in India, riots and attacks on 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 million Hindus living in Pakistan. The 1998 census recorded 2,443,614 Hindus in Pakistan.

Hindu minorities, under Taliban rule in Swat, were forced to wear Red headgear such as turbans as a symbol of dhimmi. In July 2010, around 60 members of the minority Hindus in Karachi were attacked and ethnically cleansed following an incident when a Hindu youth drank from a water tap near an Islamic mosque The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan came out with a report in 2010 stating that at least 25 Hindu girls are abducted in Pakistan every month.

Pakistan Studies curriculum issues

Main article: Pakistan Studies curriculum

According to the Sustainable Development Policy Institute report 'Associated with the insistence on the Ideology of Pakistan has been an essential component of hate against India and the Hindus. For the upholders of the Ideology of Pakistan, the existence of Pakistan is defined only in relation to Hindus, and hence the Hindus have to be painted as negatively as possible' A 2005 report by the National Commission for Justice and Peace a non profit organization in Pakistan, found that Pakistan Studies textbooks in Pakistan have been used to articulate the hatred that Pakistani policy-makers have attempted to inculcate towards the Hindus. 'Vituperative animosities legitimise military and autocratic rule, nurturing a siege mentality. Pakistan Studies textbooks are an active site to represent India as a hostile neighbour' the report stated. 'The story of Pakistan’s past is intentionally written to be distinct from, and often in direct contrast with, interpretations of history found in India. From the government-issued textbooks, students are taught that Hindus are backward and superstitious.' Further the report stated 'Textbooks reflect intentional obfuscation. Today’s students, citizens of Pakistan and its future leaders are the victims of these partial truths'.

An editorial in Pakistan's oldest newspaper Dawn commenting on a report in The Guardian on Pakistani Textbooks noted 'By propagating concepts such as jihad, the inferiority of non-Muslims, India’s ingrained enmity with Pakistan, etc., the textbook board publications used by all government schools promote a mindset that is bigoted and obscurantist. Since there are more children studying in these schools than in madrassahs the damage done is greater. ' According to the historian Professor Mubarak Ali, textbook reform in Pakistan began with the introduction of Pakistan Studies and Islamic studies by Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto in 1971 into the national curriculum as compulsory subject. Former military dictator Gen Zia-ul-Haq under a general drive towards Islamization, started the process of historical revisionism in earnest and exploited this initiative. 'The Pakistani establishment taught their children right from the beginning that this state was built on the basis of religion – that's why they don't have tolerance for other religions and want to wipe-out all of them.'

According to Pervez Hoodbhoy, a physics professor at Quaid-i-Azam University in Islamabad, the "Islamizing" of Pakistan's schools began in 1976 when an act of parliament required all government and private schools (except those teaching the British O-levels from Grade 9) to follow a curriculum that includes learning outcomes for the federally approved Grade 5 social studies class such as: 'Acknowledge and identify forces that may be working against Pakistan,' 'Make speeches on Jihad,' 'Collect pictures of policemen, soldiers, and national guards,' and 'India's evil designs against Pakistan.'

See also

• Persecution of Hindus in Pakistan
• Jews in Pakistan
• Decline of Hinduism in Pakistan
• Pakistan Hindu Panchayat, Demographics of Pakistan
• Partition of India
• List of Hindu temples all over the world
• Muslim League Attack on Sikhs and Hindus in the Punjab 1947

External links

• Pakistan Hindu Council Website
• Hindus demand reconstruction of all temples damaged in 1992
• Hindus feel the heat in Pakistan
• In pictures: Hindus in Pakistan
• Assessment for Hindus in Pakistan by University of Maryland
• Hindu majority district Thar Pakar in Pakistan
• Festival time for Pakistani Hindus