Sikhism has an extensive heritage and history in the country, although Sikhs form a very small community in Pakistan today.

[b] By 1947, it is estimated that the Sikh population increased to over 2 million persons in the region which became Pakistan with significant populations existing in the largest cities in the Punjab such as Lahore, Rawalpindi and Faisalabad (then Lyallpur), however with violence and religious cleansing accompanying the partition of India at the time, the vast majority departed the region en masse, primarily migrating eastward to the region of Punjab that would fall on the eastern side of the Radcliffe Line, in the contemporary Indian states of Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, and Delhi.

Significant populations of Sikhs inhabited the largest cities in the Punjab such as Lahore, Rawalpindi and Lyallpur.

Lahore, the capital of Punjab, was then and still is today the location of many important Sikh religious and historical sites, including the Samadhi of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, who is referred to as Sher-e-Punjab .The nearby town of Nankana Sahib has nine Gurudwaras, and is the birthplace of Sikhism's founder, Guru Nanak Sahib.

Sikh organizations, including the Chief Khalsa Dewan and Shiromani Akali Dal led by Master Tara Singh, condemned the Lahore Resolution and the movement to create Pakistan, viewing it as welcoming possible persecution; the Sikhs largely thus strongly opposed the partition of India.

These Sikh and Hindu refugee communities have had a major influence in the culture and economics of the Indian capital city of Delhi.

Today, segments of the populations of East Punjab and Haryana states and Delhi in India can trace their ancestry back to towns and villages now in Pakistan, including former Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

[11] Though, Pakistan maintains the title of Islamic state, the articles twenty, twenty-one and twenty-two in chapter two of its constitution guarantees religious freedom to the non-Muslim residents.

From 1984 to 2002, Pakistan held a system of separate electorates for all its national legislative assemblies, with only a handful of parliamentary seats reserved for minority members.

[15] Today, the largest urban Sikh population in Pakistan is found in Peshawar, in the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, where the Pashtun law of "nanawati" (protection) spared the scale of violence which had raged across the Indus River in Punjab.

[25] Decadal censuses taken in British India revealed the religious composition of all administrative divisions that would ultimately compose regions situated in contemporary Pakistan.

[36] The results of the 2023 census will be a milestone in the first official inclusion of Sikhs since the formation of Pakistan as a sovereign nation.

The National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) has provided the numbers of eligible voters belonging to minority religions (registered in electoral rolls): According to the 1901 census, the Sikh population in Pakistan comprised roughly 529,910 persons or 3.0 percent of the total population.

[4]: 42 During the colonial era (British India), prior to the partition in 1947, decadal censuses enumerated religion in North-West Frontier Province, and not in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas.

[73][74] Sunni militant groups operate with impunity across Pakistan, as law enforcement officials either turn a blind eye or appear helpless to prevent widespread attacks against religious minorities.

[75][76][77] Non-Muslim Pakistanis, including Sikhs, continue to grapple with significant challenges of persecution and religious discrimination.

In response to alleged death threats, numerous Sikh families have sought refuge in other nations deemed "safer" to secure their well-being.

[78]In 2009, the Lashkar-e-Islam led by Mangal Bagh demanded that Sikhs in the Aurakzai tribal region pay them the jizya (poll tax levied by Muslims on non-Muslim minorities).

[84] Later, cross-border agreements allowed for Indian Sikh yatri pilgrims to visit Pakistani gurdwaras during religious festivals.

[84] After insurgency erupted in the Indian state of Punjab, the Pakistani government became more lenient when allowing Sikh pilgrims into the country.

[90] In August 2024, it was reported that the Jeevay Sanjha Punjab (JSP) rediscovered some historical Sikh gurdwaras, samadhs (cenotaphs), and janam-asthans (birthplace-locations) in Lahore, such as the birthplace of Bhai Daya Singh, the samadh of Maharani Jind Kaur, and Gurdwara Baoli Sahib constructed by Guru Arjan.