For the first time, the colourful religious Hindu festival Holi will be a public holiday in Pakistan’s Sindh province, the government has announced.
In an unprecedented move, the provincial Sindh government issued a notification declaring March 24 as a public holiday.
Earlier only the minority Hindu community in Pakistan were given holiday to celebrate the “festival of colours”.
“But this is the first time we have declared Holi as a public holiday throughout the province,” said a spokesman for the Chief Minister House.
The announcement comes days after Pakistan's National Assembly adopted a non-binding resolution to take steps to declare Holi, Diwali and Easter as public holidays. Hindu lawmaker Ramesh Kumar Vankwani of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz had moved the resolution.
The decision was hailed by many, including the Pakistani media, as an attempt to steer the country towards a “more moderate ideological direction”.
The federal government, however, is yet to issue any notification to declare these festivals as public holidays. Hindus make up around 2 per cent of Pakistan's 200 million population, and mostly live in the Sindh province. Christians account for 1.6 per cent.