Artistes perform at Sufi shrine in show of solidarity with terror victims

ISLAMABAD: A number of Pakistani performers have been visiting the shrine of Hazrat Lal Shahbaz Qalandar in Sehwan to express solidarity with the performers there after an attack last week that took 88 lives and left hundreds injured.

Representatives from civil society have decided on daily visits to the shrine to display “a determination to stand by the values of harmony, tolerance and freedom of expression.”

The gatherings started on Sunday at the shrine and included a protest walk and a dance performance by classical dancer and social activist, Sheema Kermani.

Clad in an orange-coloured dress that symbolises the attire of the Sufis, Kermani danced in the shrine’s compound while a group of folk singers from Badin, Nanga Fakir, sang songs praising Qalandar.

“Oh lal meri pat rakhio bhala jhooley lalan” and “tera sehwan rahe abad,” they sang.

Kermani told reporters that the idea of her dance "was to tell the perpetrators of terrorism that nobody can stop dance and music. These are part of our heritage, our culture.”

The artist said she also intended to perform ‘dhamaal’, the ecstatic spiritual dance which the saint used to perform.

Kirmani said that the message she had for attackers was that the people who do not like the culture of shrines do not have to go to these places.