Bilawal greets Hindu community on Holi festival

Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has extended heartiest greetings to the Hindu community on the eve of the Holi festival, which is being celebrated in Pakistan and across the world from Thursday.

In his message, the PPP leader said on Wednesday that his party stood for equal rights and opportunities for the non-Muslim citizens of Pakistan as it was the true torch-bearer of the ideology of our founder, Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah, for an egalitarian society.

He pointed out that the PPP had provided constitutional guarantees to the rights for the non-Muslim Pakistanis and gave them unprecedented representation in the parliament and [arty organizations.

Bilawal stated that every Pakistani was free to celebrate and perform his or her religious ceremonies and festivals in a secure environment. —PPI

News Desk adds: Hindu community groups active in the city had appealed to the authorities concerned on February 23 to ensure that all Hindu employees working in different departments of the Sindh government and the Karachi Municipal Corporation were paid salaries in advance ahead of the Holi festival.

Parkash P Chanaal, a leader of the Pakistan Harijan Federation, a Hindu rights group, said that the members were urging the government representatives to release their salaries by February 27 to facilitate them in the celebrations.

Holi is a Hindu festival that marks the arrival of the spring season. Widely known as the Festival of Colours, it takes place over two days, and is a celebration of fertility, colour and love, as well as of the triumph of good versus evil.