Pakistan education officials reverse ban on Holi celebrations

Education officials in Pakistan have withdrawn an order that banned university students from celebrating the festival of Holi after the original notice sparked outrage on social media.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 youngsters dousing each other with coloured powder.

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

Salman Sufi, an aide to Prime Minister Shahbaz 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new order, the education commission said its earlier notification "regrettably led to misinterpretation", and was withdrawn.

"It was truly perplexing to witness a bureaucratic order holding the constitution hostage, which guarantees the freedom of religion," said Kapil Dev, a Hindu rights activist.

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

In the past, Pakistan has prohibited Valentine's Day celebrations, banned contraception adverts on TV, and blocked several social media networks, citing them as immoral and contradictory to Islamic values.

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