DERA GHAZI KHAN: Police have confiscated scores of dhol (drums) terming the traditional music instrument a security threat during the urs celebrations at the shrine of Syed Sultan Ahmad, popular as Hazrat Sakhi Sarwar.

However, the ritual of dhol and dhamal (drum beating and mystic dance) is still allowed in the northern part (tribal area) of the shrine city being guarded by the Border Military Police (BMP).

Since the suicide attack on the shrine on April 3, 2011, that claimed around 50 lives, the centuries-old main ritual of the urs -- drum beating and dhamal ( mystic dance) have been banned in the name of security by the settled area administration (district government).

Also read: Sixth shrine hit

Before 2011 suicide attack, the administration had received threats from extremists who had termed the rituals of dhol and dhamal un-Islamic.

Through beating the traditional dhol and dancing Seraiki, Baluchi and Khetrani Jhumar (folk dances) to its tune the devotees hailing from far-off areas would pay homage to the saint, before they would lay Jhoul (a large piece of embroidered cloth) on his grave. The ritual is considered central to urs celebrations of saints throughout the sub-continent.

In the absence of the main ritual the urs at the shrine has lost its luster.

One elderly devotee from Jhang, Ghulam Rasool, says the ban seems odd as it was part and parcel of the urs celebrations and the ritual was never opposed by other saints, including Khawja Ghulam Farid, who, according to a tradition, had visited the shrine.

He says ban on dhol and dhamal would create more extremism, adding that police have turned the shrine into a fortified fort by imposing such restrictions.

He maintains that imposition of ban on drum beating and mystic dance means the district government and law enforcement agencies have failed to allay the fear caused by the suicide attack on the shrine.

Sources say that devotees consider the dhol and dhamal ritual so central to urs celebrations that some of them returned without even visiting the shrine when barred from performing it.

As part of security measures, the Sakhi Sarwar police have confiscated scores of dhols during search operations carried out on a daily basis.

Sakhi Sarwar police station in-charge Wajid Hussain Khosa said police were only implementing new code of conduct at the shrine introduced following the suicide attack. However, the devotees entering the city from tribal area side could still indulge in the ritual as the Border Military Police (BMP) did not consider it a threat to the shrine’s security.

BMP officer Haji Zaman Sumailani, who had captured alive a second suicide bomber (Umer) in 2011 averting another blast at the shrine told Dawn that there was no ban on the dhol and dhamal in the tribal part of shrine city.

He said that BMP had improved security arrangements instead of imposing ban on rituals which were an integral part of the urs celebrations.

The shrine city falls into two administrative parts - tribal area which is being looked after by BMP and settled area that is under Punjab police.

The northern stairs of the shrine descend into the BMP jurisdiction, while rest of the compound falls under settled area administration.

Published in Dawn, April 6th, 2015

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