Posts falsely claim Hindu festival is 'no longer celebrated in Pakistan's Karachi'

This article is more than one year old.
Published on March 14, 2023 at 10:34
Updated on March 14, 2023 at 10:37
3 min read
By Uzair RIZVI, AFP India

Social media posts shared repeatedly in India have promoted a false claim that the Hindu festival of Maha Shivratri is no longer observed in Karachi, the largest city in Pakistan, its Muslim-majority neighbour. The claim circulated alongside a black-and-white image supposedly showing the festival being celebrated in the city in the 1920s -- when it was part of British colonial India. In fact, an official at the Pakistan Hindu Council said the festival -- which is listed as an "optional holiday" by the government -- was observed in Karachi in February. AFP also located footage of the festival being celebrated in the city from a YouTube user who said he filmed it this year.

The false claim about Maha Shivratri -- one of the most auspicious festivals in Hinduism -- was shared here on Facebook on February 19, 2023.

"Merely 100 years ago, #Mahashivratri was celebrated like this in Karachi," it reads. "Today, it seems unthinkable because radical Izlamic zealots have obliterated anything that is Hindu in a bid to form the new pudina. History is a great teacher, don't trust the father-hater sekhulars' version of white-washed fakery."

The post was accompanied by a black-and-white photograph of a crowd gathered in an open area with a caption that reads: "MAHA SHIVRATRI HINDU FESTIVAL CLIFTON KARACHI".

Clifton is an upscale and historic seaside locality in Karachi, Pakistan's largest city that was part of British colonial India until 1947.

Screenshot of the misleading post taken on March 6, 2023.

Similar claims were also shared on Twitter here and here; and on Facebook here.

Comments on the posts indicated that some people believed the festival was no longer celebrated in Pakistan.

One read: "Same thing will happen in near future that many states will ban celebrating Hindu festivals. Many states muslims will ensure no Hindus or Hindu temples survive."

"Hindus and Hindu culture have been shattered in that country," read another.

Kaleemullah Lashari, the chairman of the Committees of Heritage and Conservation and Restoration of Cultural Heritage, told AFP the photo shows Karachi's Clifton beach around the 1920s.

He said: "The stone structure which is seen in the picture is the Jehangir Kothari Parade, a hallmark of Karachi. Earlier the Arabian Sea water would flow near the structure of the Kothari Parade but now it has receded quite far and the new construction along the beach has totally transformed the landscape of the Clifton beach".

While the photo seen in the misleading posts shows the Hindu festival in Karachi a century ago, it is false to suggest the festival is no longer observed in the city.

Recent celebration

Kirshan Sagar, the chief coordinator at the Pakistan Hindu Council, told AFP there had been no ban on celebrating Maha Shivratri in Pakistan, adding that the festival was observed in Karachi in February.

"The posts circulating on social media are baseless and misleading. In February, the Hindu community celebrated their religious festival of Shivratri with all religious fervour in the cities and towns of Karachi, Hyderabad, Mirpurkhas, Kunri and across Pakistan, where Hindus reside," Sagar said on March 2, 2023.

Pakistan's government listed the festival as an "optional holiday" for February 18, 2023.

A separate keyword search on YouTube found a clip shared here titled "Happy Maha Shivratri Pakistan" of people celebrating the festival in Karachi.

The YouTube user who uploaded the video, which is dated February 19 of this year, told AFP it shows Hindus marking Maha Shivratri in the same month.

The gate of Karachi's Shree Ratneswar Mahadev Temple can be seen at the video's 13-minute, five-second mark.

Below is a screenshot comparison of the Shree Ratneswar Mahadev Temple seen in the YouTube video (left) and the temple on Google Maps (right):

Screenshot comparison of the Shree Ratneshwar Mahadev Temple in the YouTube video (left) and the temple on Google Maps (right).

The man filming the clip can be heard saying at the video's 53-second mark: "Friends, today is Maha Shivratri and a happy festival to you."

At the clip's one-minute, four-second mark, the same man can also be heard saying, "Friends, let's show you how our Hindu community celebrates Maha Shivratri in Karachi."

There have been local media reports about the festival being celebrated in Karachi in recent years, including this one by Dawn newspaper in March 2016.

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