A number of Hindu students were provisionally banned from the campus and asked to appear before a disciplinary commission after an event connected with the popular feast.
by Massimo Introvigne
This week Dawood University of Science and Technology, a leading private university in Karachi, Pakistan, came under sustained criticism on social and printed media for harassing Hindu students after they celebrated the Holi Festival on campus.
After they took part in a Holi celebration on February 21, students were provisionally banned from the university premises and requested to appear before a disciplinary commission. Some of them posted the letters they received on social media.
Although the letters mentioned “shouting anti-state slogans,” when contacted by the media the university claimed that students were being sanctioned for holding an event on campus without having sought the proper authorizations.
Supported by politicians interested in minority issues such as former parliamentarian Lal Malhi, the Hindu students insisted on social media that this was yet another case of discrimination against a religious minority and that the accusation of chanting “anti-state slogans” was a pretext.“Has celebrating Holi also become a crime now? Is celebrating Holi in university now against the state?,” Lal Malhi asked on X.
