In the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, something unusual happened recently – the government of the Sindh province declared that Holi, 24th March would be a public holiday. This is the first instance of the principally Hindu festival of Holi being declared a holiday in the country. Many right minded citizens of Pakistan, welcoming this move to demonstrate that the state values all citizens equally, decided to join in the festivities by celebrating Holi as well.
An unprecedented Holi in Pakistan
Image from NSF Pakistan Twitter Page
In a country were attacks on the places of worship of minorities is so common as to be nearly routine, the scene at the Shri Swaminarayan Temple in Karachi was rather different this Holi. A human chain of students formed outside the temple where Hindus were celebrating the annual festival of colour. The students were members of the National Students Federation (NSF) who decided to do for their fellow citizens, what the authorities were failing to do by taking care of them. The banners they held said “Happy Holi” and other messages in Urdu that expressed solidarity with the Hindu community.
How Muslims celebrated holi at a Karachi cathedral
Image from Wahid Khan’s Facebook page
Wahid Khan is a member of the Pakistan-US Alumni Network (PUAN) along with some other organisation members decided to celebrate Holi too. The Holy Trinity Cathedral was chosen to be the venue for the festivities. So for once, people were witness to some rather unusual scenes of Hindus, Muslims and Christians enjoying getting coloured amidst a lot of love and laughter.
As a social experiment, Wahid decided to take the bus rather than an auto, just so he could get a sense of what a Hindu, who had obviously celebrated a Hindu festival, would feel like on the streets of Pakistan and what reactions would be forthcoming from others. He was mistaken for a colour worker or people presumed that he was Hindu.
In the bus, one older Muslim man tried to tell him how Hindus and Muslims are not meant to be together; how people are raised to think this. To Wahid’s delight however, another man on the bus had this to say “Oh bhai, if colours bring these kids together and they can celebrate it together, why do you have to bring in religion? That’s a great thing.” this was clearly a new and surprisingly acceptable concept for the older man. When Wahid posted this story on his Facebook wall people from all over the world reached out in support.
It is quite obvious, that many more people than just Wahid Khan are just tired of the hate.
Author – Reena Daruwalla
