The hindu community in Pakistan’s Karachi celebrated holi, the festival of colours. A video of the celebrations in Karachi showed people grooving to Bollywood songs and smearing colours on each other.
The people, smeared in ‘gulal’ or coloured powders, also sprinkled water on each other while they danced their heart out to Amitabh Bachchan’s iconic holi song ‘Rang Barse’.
In a video shared by news agency Associated Press (AP), one of the members can be heard saying, Holi signifies the triumph of good over evil, while others pose for pictures, and also distribute sweets as part of the celebrations.
Watch: Holi celebrations in Pakistan
The Hindu community in Karachi, Pakistan, celebrated Holi — the festival of colors — this past week. pic.twitter.com/flEIEofnsN
— The Associated Press (@AP) March 8, 2023
Although traditionally a Hindu festival, Holi also sees participation from members of other religions. Hindus believe that Holi brings a message of unity and friendship and bridges the communal divide.
The video was released just a few days after two attacks on Hindu students in Pakistan. According to reports, some members of a radical Islamic student organization attacked at least 15 Hindu students celebrating Holi at the University of Karachi and injured them.
An unnamed Hindu girl student, wearing a mask along with other students, later released a video on Twitter outlining the entire incident. “The Islaami Jamiat Tulba (IJT) activists came and attacked students celebrating Holi in the hall. They beat some of us,” she said.
