The chief minister of the Sindh province of Pakistan, Syed Murad Ali Shah was trolled heavily on social media after he wished a Happy Holi to the Hindu minority of Sindh on the occasion of Diwali. The wrong greeting message posted on the official Twitter handle of the Chief Minister of Sindh was deleted later on. But by the time it was deleted it became viral as many users took the screenshot of the post and questioned the carelessness of the government for making such a mistake. The Twitter handle shared a picture of CM with a splash of colour in the background with a happy ‘Happy Holi’ note.
“Sindh has the largest number of Hindu population in Pakistan with areas where Hindus are in overwhelming majority. One can only be sad at the state of affairs if the staff at the CM House Sindh doesn’t know the difference between Diwali and Holi. Sad indeed,” said Murtaza Solangi, Executive editor of Nayadaur media.
“Where is the apology? It is not a mistake. It is a blunder. Mistakes are made by an individual, not by an institution,” Solangi further slammed.
Several social media users trolled the Sindh CM for the mistake in the greetings.
However, embarrassed over the gaffe, the office of the Sindh Chief Minister posted a few other greeting messages but the damage was already done.
In one of the posts, the government said that chief minister Syed Murad Ali Shah has always spoken of the protection of the rights of minorities. “Our government is providing all facilities to the minority community in all walks of life. We are equal partners in the joyous festival of the Hindu community,” it said.
The population of minority Hindus including scheduled caste in Pakistan is doubtful since the Pakistan government has been quite sceptical about releasing the data of the last census held in 2017. But Sindh is apparently the only province of Pakistan that has a significant Hindu population. Hindu minorities have always been prosecuted by Islamic fundamentalist where forceful conversion, kidnapping of Hindu girls and demolition of temples frequently takes place.
Even though the ministers are offering stolen greetings for a Hindu festival, attacks on Hindu temples continue in the country. Less than a week back, Islamic fundamentalists desecrated and vandalised a historic Panchmukhi Hanuman temple in the Kotri area in the Sindh province of Pakistan.