Negotiating Precarity of the Last Surviving Buddhist Communities in a Privileged Caste Muslim Pakistan

The decline of Buddhism in Pakistan began with the advent of Brahmin rule in the region in the 7th century before the Arab Muslims conquered it. Today, Pakistan is dominated by Ashrafiya caste Muslims with 96.35 percent identifying themselves as Muslims, and Islam is declared as an official religion. Hindus and Christians together constitute about 3.8 percent of the population. These Buddhist communities are scattered across Pakistan mostly living in small villages and towns. Using ethnographic methods, this paper attempts to explore the Buddhist lifeworld, and their lower caste status to find ways to create a Buddhist sub-culture, visibilise their lower caste existence  to secure their fundamental rights. It delves into the fears, anxieties, and apprehensions of the Pakistani Buddhists, their unwarranted absorption into the Hindu minority and Muslim majority, influences of ashrafisation and savarnisation, and suggests remedial measures for the change agents at the local, national, and global levels.