wanted Pakistan to be a secular, democratic, and a liberal republic. Pakistan was secular from 1947 to 1955 and after that, Pakistan adopted a constitution in 1956, becoming an Islamic republic with Islam as its state religion. The main principles of Secularism in the Pakistani constitution were incorporated in its fundamental rights which were granted under various articles of 20, 21, 22 & 25 of the constitution - (a) Article 20 : Freedom to profess religion and to manage religious institutions. (b) Article 21 : Safeguard against taxation for purposes of any particular religion. (c) Article 22 : Safeguards as to educational institutions in respect of religion, etc. (d) Article 25 : Equality of citizens. Demographics of religion in Pakistan 1901 to 1931 census The 1961 Census of Pakistan (Volume 1 – page 24 of Part II – Statement 2.19) released estimates on the religious composition of the country to the nearest thousandth for Muslims, Hindus, Christians, and others for 60 years prior. The pre-partition figures were derived from prior decadal censuses taken in administrative divisions in British India that would become part of Pakistan following partition, and included separate results for West Pakistan and East Pakistan. As the area that composes the contemporary nation of Pakistan corresponds with the historical administrative unit of West Pakistan, the figures in the table below are for West Pakistan from the 1901 census, 1911 census, 1921 census, and the 1931 census. 1941 census The total population of the region that composes contemporary Pakistan was approximately 29,347,813 according to the final census prior to partition in 1941. With the exception of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas, all administrative divisions in the region that composes contemporary Pakistan collected religious data, with a combined total population of 26,970,214, for an overall response rate of 91.9 percent. Similar to the contemporary era, where censuses do not collect religious data in Azad Jammu and Kashmir and Gilgit–Baltistan, the total number of responses for religion is slightly smaller than the total population, as detailed in the table breakdown below. 1951 census After partition, when first census of Pakistan was conducted in the year 1951, It was found that the Muslim proportion in West Pakistan (contemporary Pakistan) increased from approximately 77.3 percent according to the 1941 census, to 97.1 percent as per the 1951 census; in contrast, the Hindu proportion in West Pakistan (contemporary Pakistan) decreased from approximately 14.6 percent