Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan wishes Hindu community a very happy and peaceful Holi Image Credit: Gulf News archives

Dubai: Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan never misses the chance to greet minorities on the special occasions.

The Prime Minister on Monday greeted the Hindu community of Pakistan on the occasion of Holi which is being celebrated across the country today.

Imran tweeted: “Wishing all our Hindu community a very happy and peaceful Holi, the festival of colours.”

Holi is a popular ancient Hindu festival which is celebrated by the Hindus around the world. It is celebrated predominantly in India.

Holi is popularly known as the Indian ‘festival of colours”. On Sunday, the provincial government of Balochistan announced two-day holidays on March 9 and 10 for the Hindu community to celebrate Holi.

The ancient Hindu festival of Holi, which heralds the end of winter and the victory of good over evil, is marked with a national public holiday in India and sees revellers pour onto streets splashing colours on one another.

Hindu population in Pakistan

Though there are no exact official numbers available, the Pakistan Hindu Council says that there are more than 8 million Hindus currently living Pakistan.

They constitute about 4 per cent of the population of 220 million. They live primarily in the urban areas of the province of Sindh in the lower Indus valley and more than half are concentrated in the south-east district of Tharparkar which borders India.

For the most part, Hindus in Pakistan are well educated and active in commerce, trade and the civil service.