KARACHI (The Thursday Times) — Pakistan’s Hindus marked Diwali on Sunday with lamps in temples, homes and streets, from the bazaars of Karachi to the desert towns of Tharparkar, and in many places their Muslim neighbours joined in.
Karachi: a Diwali bazaar at Port Grand drew crowds over the weekend, with stalls of lamps, sweets, decorations and fireworks, and Muslim women shopping alongside Hindu families. The Arts Council of Pakistan held a Diwali celebration of its own on Saturday.
Tharparkar: in Mithi, the Hindu-majority town in the Thar desert that is often held up as a model of Hindu-Muslim harmony, Muslim residents joined their Hindu friends to exchange sweets, light fireworks and celebrate together.
Across Sindh: markets in Umerkot glittered with sweet and firecracker stalls, while in Tando Allahyar and Sanghar families shopped for the festival and temples held prayers.
Lahore: at a Diwali celebration in the city, Punjab’s Senior Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb passed on Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz’s greetings and said minorities in the province enjoy equal rights. Ramesh Singh Arora, Punjab’s minister for minorities affairs, said all religious minorities in Punjab enjoy religious freedom and equal rights.
The greetings: “Warmest felicitations to all those celebrating Diwali in Pakistan and around the world,” Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif wrote. First Lady Aseefa Bhutto Zardari urged families to “remember those facing hardship and share the happiness of this occasion with them”, and to carry “the warmth of Diwali into our daily lives through kindness, friendship and care for one another”. Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah wished that the lights of Diwali would “illuminate every home with peace, prosperity, happiness and renewed hope”. PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and the PTI, on behalf of Imran Khan, also sent greetings to the Hindu community.
Abroad, New York’s mayor Zohran Mamdani marked the festival with a film of diyas and rangoli, and the Golden Temple in Amritsar glowed on the eve of Diwali. In Pakistan the celebrations came at the end of days of preparation, as we reported in Lamps, sweets and a long weekend.
