Simultaneously, on August 11th, the new flat was adopted. The fact that its design is an amalgamation of the white stripe with the existing Muslim League flag, further accentuated Jinnah’s desires for a Pakistan for all. Perhaps with the birth of Pakistan, the flag quite presciently symbolized the birth of another struggle – that of Muslim and Non-Muslim coexistence. In fact, Partition was not the end of the Indian problem created by two centuries of British rule, but just the beginning of the healing process.

Three days later, on August 14th, 1947, Pakistan gained independence and the Dominion of Pakistan came into being. With this fateful action, overnight the scales tipped. Muslims were finally in the majority in a separate nation. At the point of Pakistan’s creation, Non-Muslims only made 20.5% of the 33 million-strong people that lived in the lands that now form Pakistan. This number decreased in the two years that followed, as the exodus of non-Muslims continued until 1949. This brought the non-Muslim population to just under 3% in the first ever national census in 1951.

Forty-seven years later, this number increased by a meager 0.8% to 3.75% as the total population increased by 100 million in absolute terms as noted in the Census of 1998.

The situation in our present time is not much different. Though official statistics relating to minorities from the 2017 National Census are yet to be released, the total population is officially claimed to have increased to 207 million people in the nineteen years since the last census.

The fact that it has been three years since the last census was held and the government still has not been able to produce a population statistic for the minorities shows not only the country’s gross neglect of its minorities but also just how much it has diverged from the original vision of Jinnah’s. His hope to reach a point of political integration such that “Hindus cease to be Hindus and Muslims cease to be Muslims,” is far from realized in present day Pakistan.

While the wait for official statistics continues, many non-governmental organizations are starting to gather their own data. Though this is encouraged, it should not be seen as a substitute for what first and foremost is a government’s responsibility. This is especially urgent in a world of fake news and op-eds.

It is in the context of this modern, post-truth world we live in, that we felt a need to create a website that could act as a repository and keep track of all the integral communities that make up the white of the flag. Without these diverse and vital communities, Jinnah’s vision of Pakistan will always remain incomplete. 

On this digital platform, you will find information about the history of minority communities in Pakistan, explanations about their cultures, resources for learning and research, and most importantly, their stories.