Shahnawaz Dahani wished Holi to Hindus but he didn’t know that the Islamist Twitter mob will come after him. Dahani, a right-arm fast bowler from Pakistan, tweeted, “To all the lovely people around the world, who believe in love, peace, happiness, Colors & celebrations. I wish you Happy Holi!#HappyHoli“
Immediately after extending his wishes for Holi to the Hindus, he started receiving comments that called the act of wishing Holi, a festival of the Kafirs, Haram, and asked him to delete the tweet.
A Twitter user said that Holi was Haram, and extending wishes for something which was ‘Haram’ was a ‘Gunah’.
This shouldn’t come as a surprise to the readers because this has been happening for as long as one can remember. OpIndia earlier published a report where Babar Azam drew similar reactions from the Pakistani Islamists.
Another Islamist named Rizwan went to the extent of saying that he will not get to play in the PSL, the Pakistani cricket league, for wishing Hindus on Holi.
The hate messages didn’t stop there, there was a flood of similar messages all over his timeline. One radical user, writing in Urdu called it regrettable and reminded Shahnawaz of his Muslim identity and told him that it was not permissible for a Muslim to wish on Holi.
A similar tweet came from another user named Qasim Afridi, who questioned Shahnawaz on his Muslim credentials.
A Twitter user in rather dictatorial words claimed that “as Muslims, we can’t celebrate Holi”
In 2021, Bazid Khan, Pakistani commentator, and former cricketer had rejoiced ‘Kufr’s defeat’ after India lost to Pakistan in its first ‘super 12’ game of the T20 World Cup. Khan while interviewing the winning captain Babar Azam, in a post-match presentation ceremony remarked, “Lekin kufr to toot gaya,” to which Babar Azam replied, “All because of Allah.” The usage of the term ‘kufr’ by an International Cricket Council (ICC) presenter at an official ceremony had led to an outrage.
The hatred for Hindus and everything Hindu is ingrained deeply into the collective psyche of Pakistan and these Twitter comments are just minor manifestations of that deep hate