Pakistan reverses Holi ban in varsities after social media outcry

Pakistan's top education body has withdrawn an order that banned university students from celebrating the Hindu festival of Holi after the original notice sparked outrage on social media.

On Tuesday, the Higher Education Commission banned campus celebrations of Holi on the grounds it was an "erosion of the country's Islamic identity", after videos appeared on social media showing groups of students of Quaid-i-Azam University (QAU) dousing each other with coloured powder.

The festival was organised by a student body on June 13. The videos from the festival went viral which prompted education authorities to impose a ban.

The order said the scenes "caused concern and has disadvantageously affected the country’s image".

'Stern notice'

Salman Sufi, an aide to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, said the minister of education had taken "stern notice" of the original ban.

"Religious harmony is to be celebrated rather than deterred... We must bring cohesion rather than division in our society," he tweeted.

In Thursday's new order, the education commission said its earlier notification "regrettably led to misinterpretation", and was withdrawn.

"The withdrawal of the misguided notification is a welcome decision, although it should not have been issued in the first place," Kapil Dev, a Hindu rights activist, told AFP.

Muslims make up 97 percent of the population and Hindus two percent in Pakistan.