Purifying the Land of the Pure: A History of Pakistan's Religious MinoritiesWhen Pakistan emerged as an independent state in 1947, it sought to provide a new homeland and safe harbor for South Asia's Muslims, the largest religious minority in the subcontinent at the time. Yet this project was not exclusive. Taking its name from Pakstan, an acronym composed of the key letters of its constituent regions Punjab, Afghania, Kashmir, Sindh, and Baluchistan Pakistan at first welcomed all of its new citizens, Muslim and non Muslim