A Brief History

MoRA & IH :: A Brief History

The Ministry of Religious Affairs was created in October 1974. Prior to 1974 various Ministries had been dealing with hajj operations. In 1976, the subjects of Minorities Affairs and Overseas Pakistanis were merged with this Ministry, and the Ministry was renamed as “Ministry of Religious Affairs, Minorities Affairs, and Overseas Pakistanis”. They were separated from this Ministry in 1977 and 1992, respectively. However, the subjects of Minorities Affairs and Zakat & Ushr were merged with this Ministry in 1996. The Zakat & Ushr Division was again separated from this Ministry in October/November 2008. Hence, the Ministry was renamed as the Ministry of Religious Affairs. In June 2013, the erstwhile Ministry of National Harmony (devolved M/o Minorities Affairs) was merged with the Ministry of Religious Affairs and, therefore, was renamed as the Ministry of “Religious Affairs and Interfaith Harmony”.