Many Hindus in the city also observe Ramazan and Iftar has become a social gathering.
This photograph taken on February 26, 2026 shows Hindu men preparing Iftar meals during the Islamic fasting month of Ramadan, inside a Sufi shrine in Mithi in Tharparkar district of Sindh province. Photo: AFP
Partab Shivani, a Hind, has been fasting occasionally during Ramazan for years, but this time it is different as he practices abstinence throughout the holy month.
Every year, he and his friends in Mithi, Sindh, organize an Iftar to foster peace and solidarity between Hindus and Muslims.
“I believe we need to promote interfaith harmony. Firstly, we are humans – religions came later,” said Shivani, a 48-year-old social activist. AFPadding that he also reads the teachings of the Buddha.
“His message is about peace and the end of war. Peace can spread through solidarity and by standing together. Distance only widens the gap between people,” he added.
Photo: AFP
Ninety-six percent of Pakistan’s 240 million people are Muslim. Only 2% are Hindu, most living in rural Sindh.
In Mithi itself, most of the 60,000 inhabitants are Hindu.
Many Hindus in the city also observe Ramazan and Iftar has become a social gathering in which people of both faiths happily participate.
“This has been our wonderful tradition for a very long time,” said Mir Muhammad Buledi, a 51-year-old Muslim friend who attended Shivani’s Iftar gathering.
“It’s a great example of harmony between the two communities.”
“Like brothers”
After the end of British rule in South Asia in 1947, the subcontinent was divided into a predominantly Hindu India and a predominantly Muslim Pakistan. This sparked a widespread religious bloodbath in which hundreds of thousands of people were killed and millions displaced.
Photo: AFP
According to the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, freedom of religion or belief is under constant threat, with religiously motivated violence and discrimination increasing every year.
State authorities, who often use religious unrest for political purposes, have failed to resolve the crisis, the independent nonprofit organization says.
But such tensions are absent in Mithi.
“I am Hindu but I fast every month this month,” said Sushil Malani, a local politician. “I feel happy to be alongside my Muslim brothers.
“We celebrate Eid together as well. This tradition in the region is very old.”
This photograph taken on February 26, 2026 shows Hindu men offering prayers inside a Sufi shrine during the Islamic fasting month of Ramadan, in Mithi in Tharparkar district of Sindh province. Photo: AFP
Restaurants and tea stalls are closed across the country during the holy month.
Ramesh Kumar, a 52-year-old Hindu who sells sweet and savory products outside a shrine, keeps his cart covered and closed until Iftar.
“There is no discrimination between us whether someone is Muslim or Hindu. I have noticed since my childhood that we all live together like brothers,” he said.
Muslim shrine, Hindu guardian
Locals say Mithi’s peaceful religious coexistence can be attributed to its remote location, emerging from the sand dunes of the Tharparkar Desert, which borders the modern Indian state of Rajasthan.
Cows, considered sacred in Hinduism, move freely in the town of Mithi, as in India.
At two Sufi shrines in the middle of the city, Hindu families host meals, bringing fruit, meals and juice to their Muslim neighbors to break their fast.
“We respect Muslims,” said Mohan Lal Malhi, a Hindu caretaker at one of the shrines.
Photo: AFP
Mohan said his parents and elders taught him to respect people regardless of religion or color, and that traditions are passed down from one generation to the next.
Local residents said that both communities consider their social relations more important than their religious identity.
“You will see a [Sikh] gurdwara, a mosque and a shrine come together here,” Mohan said. “The atmosphere of this area teaches humanity.”
