Religion
Pakistan is important for many religions of the world. The Indus Valley gave rise to one of the first great civilizations. Mahayana Buddhism also developed here as did the Sikh religion under Guru Nanak. Pakistan was created in the Indus Valley specifically to provide the Muslims of South Asia with a state of their own, and there are very few countries where religion plays such an important role in the lives of people.
Muslims make up over 98% of the population of Pakistan, of which roughly 80% are Sunni and 20 % are Sh'iah. About 1 % of the population is Christian with slightly more protestants than Catholics. The Hindus, mostly nomads living in the South account for less than 1%. In Karachi, Lahore, Rawalpindi and Quetta there are small communities of Buddhists and there are a tiny group of animist Kalash living in Chitral on the Afghan border. 
Islam
Islam ('submission to God') plays a very important role in the lives of Pakistani people, in fact, it prevails in every aspect of society. The muezzin's call to worship from the minarets of the mosques; men bowed in prayer in the fields, shops and airports; qibla (Urdu for 'the direction of Makkah') is marked in every hotel bedroom; the veiled women in the streets - all constantly remind you of the devotion and passion of the Pakistanis for their religion.
The message of Islam was brought by the Prophet Muhammad in the Arabian city of Makkah. He saw himself as God's messenger and taught that all human beings are equal in the sight of God. It is also believed by all Muslims that he was the one who God sent the Qu'ran so that its word may be spread among the masses. The Qu'ran is believed to be infallible and the words of God.
Sufism
Sufism is Islam's mystical tradition, the Sufis being Muslim holy men who develop their spirituality through prayer and meditation. Sufi comes from the Arabic 'safa' meaning purity, so Sufis are those whose hearts and souls are pure. The first Sufis wandered through Persia and Afghanistan and into the South Asia, preaching love, peace and brotherhood. Some of Pakistan's finest music and literature were written by Sufi saints; verses set to music that tell of the love of God, and stories in which virtue receives its reward. Sufi saints portrayed life at its most perfect. The shrines of the great saints draw many who come to pray and make offerings.Each shrine has a festival (urs) each year on the death anniversary of the saint's death. The shrine then becomes a fairground, with musicians playing traditional instruments and singers performing mystical folk songs while dancers dance themselves in to a devotional frenzy. Trade fairs, sports competitions and traditional martial arts also take place such as fighting with daggers and riding. 
Sikhism
The founder of the Sikh religion, Guru Nanak, was born near Lahore. He took elements from Hinduism and Islam and combined them with new ideas. They controlled an empire centered on Punjab, with Lahore as their temporal capital and nearby Amritsar (in India) as their religious capital.At partition, all the Sikhs migrated to India where they are now asking for a separate Sikh state in the Indian part of Punjab. Their shrines in Pakistan are maintained by the government and are visited at festival times by Sikh pilgrims.
Buddhism
Pakistan, the crucible of many cultures and civilizations from the Stone Age to the British Rule, has remains of ancient civilizations scattered all over the country. However, the most popular are the Indus Valley and Gandhara Civilizations. Almost all the major museums of the world has pieces of Gandhara Art exhibited in their galleries.Gandhara, the ancient Peshawar Valley and the cradle of Buddhist Civilizations, gave birth to the famous Gandhara Art, is first mentioned in the Rigveda, and remained one of the provinces of the Achaemenian Empire as per Darius inscription of the 6th century BC. Pushkalavati (Balahisar – Charsadda), its first capital from 6th century BC till 1st century AD, was invaded in 327 BC by Alexander of Macedonia, ruled by Mauryans, Indo-Greeks, Scythians, Parthians and Kushans who established their capital at Pushpapura or Peshawar in 1st century AD. In 7th century AD, the Shahi Dynasty established the capital at Hund, which remained their capital till the invasions of Ghaznavids in 998 AD, thus ending the rule of Gandhara.
The sites and antiquities of Takht-e-Bahi, Sahri Bahlol, Jamal Garhi, Rani Gat, Aziz Dheri, Butkara, Saidu Stupa, Andan Dheri, Chat Pat, Dam Kot, Khanpur and the monasteries in the Taxila Valley provided the richest collection of Gandhara Art to the Peshawar, Taxila, Swat, Dir and Peshawar University museums through the excavations by British, Italian and Pakistani scholars.
Hinduism
Pakistan has played an important role in the historical development of Buddhism and Hinduism, the latter taking its name from the Indus river. About 4 million Hindus left Pakistan during the partition, and 1.5 million remain today.
