At the time of the separation, the majority of Hindus left Western newly formed Pakistan to go to India. In the east, wealthy Hindus also fled to newly formed East Pakistan, but only a handful of Hindus (about ten million) remained. Most of them remained there until the 1971 civil war (which led to the formation of Bangladesh) forced them to seek refuge in India.
There is also a small but very important number of Christians in the world. Of the various denominations, the Roman Catholic Church is the largest. Violent attacks on Christians intensified during the reign of Zia ul-Haq, a practice that continued after that and the rise of religious warfare.
Almost all Pakistanis are Muslim or at least adhere to Islamic traditions, and Islamic policies and practices affect almost every aspect of Pakistani life. Most Pakistanis belong to the Sunni sect, which is a major branch of Islam. There are also significant numbers of Shiya Muslims. Among the Sunnis, Sufism is very popular and has a great influence. In addition to the two main groups there is also a very small sect called Aḥmadiyyah, also sometimes called Qadiani.
Religion:
The role of religion in Pakistani society and politics is gaining ground in the Muslim community (Jamiat-i Islami). Founded in 1941 by Abu-al-Ala Mawdudi (Maududi), one of the world's leading thinkers in reviving the Sunni, the group has played a key role in Pakistan's political life and has been promoting the re-establishment of Pakistan as a pure Islamic or theocratic state.
Most Pakistani Sunnis are members of the Ḥanafiyyah (Hanafite) school, which is one of the four major schools (madhhabs) or subseect of Islamic jurisprudence; perhaps the greatest of the four, yet still seeking its guidance to the faithful. Two popular reformist organizations established in northern India - schools in Deoband and Barelwi - are also widespread in Pakistan. The differences between the two organizations over the various theological issues are important until violence breaks out between them. Another group, Tablighi Jamaʿat (founded in 1926), based in Raiwind, near Lahore, is an independent service group with an annual conference that draws hundreds of thousands of members from around the world. It is probably the largest Islamic organization in the world.
Traditional Regions:
Pakistan's indigenous regions, made up of natural resources and evolution, are characterized by the division of the country into the four provinces of Sindh, Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (including the Federally Administered Tribal Areas), and Balochistan, each in terms of race and language.
In the Punjab, until the arrival of irrigation, most people were confined to areas that receive more than 500 millimeters of rainfall per year, namely the Potwar Plateau and the upper Indus plain. Such areas where dry farming is practiced are called barani. Later, large tracts of uncultivated land in the Indus River valley south of the Punjab were flooded with canals and filled colonies taken from other parts of the province. Known as the Canal Colony, the area now forms one of the richest agricultural areas in the country.
The agricultural economy is concentrated in those barren areas around Lahore that have benefited from irrigation, as well as in the Canal Colony and Sindh provinces. Those regions make up the majority of rural Pakistan and produce more than half of the country's wheat and almost all of cotton and rice. Land areas are vast in the Canal Colony areas of Punjab and Sindh.
Settlement Patterns:
Geographically, the population of Pakistan is still unequally distributed. More than half of the people of Punjab; Balochistan, on the other hand, is the largest region in terms of geographical location. Similarly, in each province, the population continues to have lakes in various locations. Most Balochistanans, for example, are concentrated in the Quetta region. The district near Karachi and the tributary near the Indus River are the most densely populated areas in Sindh province. Within the Punjab the population is declining from northeast to southwest. At Khyber Pakhtunkhwa the plain around Peshawar and Mardan is a very high point. In general, overcrowding is rampant in fertile agricultural areas. Nomadism and transhumance, which are common lifestyles in Pakistan, were practiced by a few people in the 21st century.
Rural Settlement:
About two-thirds of rural Pakistan live in villages or towns (that is, in integrated residential groups). In some cases, as is often the case in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, houses are enclosed in a ring with a windowless exterior, so that each building resembles a fortified tower with a few guarded doors. Living patterns scattered in the form of single-story homes are rare, occurring only in a few mountain areas. But it is not uncommon to find many satellite villages of various sizes near major villages; such villages are inhabited by the householder (and his family, employees, and vendors) or other members of a family group living together in adjoining houses.
The proliferation of tubes in the Punjab has exacerbated the tendency for such dispersions, as people often prefer to stay close to their tube sources to monitor vital equipment. The concept of a village, therefore, is often equivalent to that of the mawzaʿ (the area of the earth, with its village and its satellite villages, forming a unit in the world benefit records). It is difficult to talk about the medium size of the valley, because the patterns of the living space are complex. Most housing groups have at least a dozen or so homes, and usually there are several hundred accommodations in each “village.” Large cities rarely have more than 2,500 people.
