SEHWAN – Theatre artist Sheema Kermani on Saturday performed dhamaal at the shrine of Sufi saint Lal Shahbaz Qalandar, where a suicide blast claimed 86 lives and left more than 350 injured last year.
A group of artists and Kermani swayed to beats of traditional Sufi poetry as they performed in front of a packed courtyard in the shrine.
On Friday, the first anniversary of the February 16, 2017 suicide blast at the shrine of Hazrat Lal Shahbaz Qalandar in Sehwan, Jamshoro district was commemorated with Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah and hundreds of devotees in presence.
https://www.facebook.com/GeoUrduDotTv/videos/1669124153137070/
The time of dhammal, the ritual of an ecstatic Sufi dance which attracts devotees, was presumably selected with the intent to maximise the casualties. Although the incident claimed many innocent lives, the devotees remained undaunted as the saint’s 765th urs in May, 2017 recorded a historic attendance of more than two million people.
Talking to the media after laying a chaddar at the shrine, CM Shah claimed that the law enforcement agencies successfully tracked the terrorists involved in the attack. “All the culprits, including the mastermind, have either been arrested or sent to hell.
On November 17, 2017, the Counter-Terrorism Department announced the arrest of Nadir Ali Jakhrani alias Murshid in a raid in the Manghopir area of Karachi. The suspect later told the interrogators that he and his group worked for the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria.
He identified his associates as Ghulam Mustafa alias Doctor, suicide bomber Babar Brohi, Saifullah, Aijaz Bangulzai, Tanveer, Farooq Bangulzai and Zulqarnain. Mustafa, who was earlier killed in a security operation in Balochistan’s district Mastung, is said to be the mastermind.
The Sindh government released a sum of Rs248 million as payment of compensation to the victims and their families. Each family of the people who were killed was paid Rs1.5 million while Rs500,000 was given to each critically injured person and Rs200,000 to those who sustained minor injuries.
Video courtesy: Geo News
