The region that is today known as Pakistan once had a large Buddhist population, with the majority of people in Gandhara (present day North Western Pakistan and Eastern Afghanistan) being Buddhist. Gandhara was largely Mahayana Buddhist, and was also a stronghold of Vajrayana Buddhism. The Swat Valley, known in antiquity as Uddiyana, was a kingdom tributary to Gandhara. There are many archaeological sites from the Buddhist era in Swat.
The Buddhist sage Padmasambhava is said to have been born in a a village near the present day town of Chakdara in Lower Dir District, which was then a part of Uddiyana. Padmasambhava is kanown as Guru Rinpoche in Tibetan and it is he who introduced Vajrayana Buddhism in Tibet.
Buddhism was also practiced in the Punjab and Sindh regions.
Gandhara remained a largely Buddhist land until around 800 AD, when the Pashtun people invaded the region from Southern Afghanistan and introduced the Islamic religion.
Most Buddhists in Punjab reverted to Hinduism from 600 AD onwards. Buddhism was the faith practiced by the majority of the population of Sindh up to the Arab conquest by the Umayad Caliphate in 710 AD.
Buddhism in Pakistan - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Today there are hardly any Buddhists left in Pakistan.
Islam 173,000,000 (96%
(nearly 70% are Sunni Muslims and 20% are Shi'a Muslims).
Hinduism 3,200,000 (1.85%)
Christianity 2,800,000 (1.6%)
Sikhs Around 20,000 (0.001%)
The remaining are Parsis, Ahmadis, Buddhists, Jews, Bahá'ís, and Animists (mainly the Kalasha of Chitral).
Pakistan - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
But it doesn't mean we destroy the Buddhist archaelogical sites found in Pakistan. We dont follow Buddhism today, but its important to protect the archaelogical sites and statues and we can display them in the museum so people can learn about our past. We dont worship those statues, but there's no harm in examining those ancient artifacts.