University in Pakistan's Karachi criticised for issuing show cause notice to students for celebrating Holi

KARACHI: A leading private university in Karachi city of Pakistan's Sindh province has been criticized for issuing a show-cause notice to students for celebrating the Hindu festival of Holi on its campus.

Lal Malhi, a former parliamentarian, posted on social media the notice issued to the students, most of them Hindus, by Dawood University of Engineering and Technology. The institute clarified it was an old case and dismissed reports that any FIRs had been registered against students.

“The students were issued notices for having an event on campus without seeking clearance from administration, which is a breach of varsity regulations,” an official said.

“The students have already responded to the notices,” he added. Lal Malhi, expressing concern over the growing criminalisation of minority religious practices in Pakistan, questioned: "Has the celebration of Holi now become a crime? Is celebrating Holi at a university considered an act against the State?”

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Hindu festivals against society's norms in Pakistan

Last year, Hindu students faced similar issues in some other provinces during the Holi festival. However, the matter was buried. Student wings of Islamist parties have been known to oppose any cultural liberal celebrations on campuses even by Muslim students, deeming them against society's norms and un-Islamic.

Viral videos of such celebrations and parties have caused conflict and violence on campuses between student groups.

Hindus who mostly reside in the southern Sindh province have for long claimed they are not treated justly by authorities, with growing instances of forced conversion and marriage of young poor Hindu girls to Muslims.