KARACHI: Pakistan Peoples Party chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari said on Friday that the resilience shown by victims of the Lal Shahbaz Qalandar tragedy was the death knell for every extremist who dared to target pluralistic Pakistan.

Speaking at the inaugural session of the third International Sufi Conference here at a local hotel, he regretted that extremism was worn like a badge of honour as the voice of the absolute truth grew dimmer in the country.

The two-day conference was organised by the Sindh culture, tourism and antiquities department. The PPP chief inaugurated the event.

Mysticism is the antidote to extremism, Sufi conference told

Mr Bhutto-Zardari started off by quoting Christian mystic Meister Eckhart: “Theologians may quarrel, but the mystics of the world speak the same language.” He said today as the world finds itself polarised we need the Sufi more than ever before. We need the universal language of the mystic to unite us to bridge the gap across religions, cultures and people; to remind us that we are all one.

Referring to one of Persian poet Saadi’s verses, Mr Bhutto-Zardari said if we can conquer ourselves from within then we can hope to change that which surrounds us. Interfaith harmony, religious tolerance and inclusiveness are terms that we hear today. However, Sufi thought encapsulated all these many hundreds of years ago. Centuries ago, it was the Sufis that spread Islam across the Indus valley through love and harmony. Luminaries such as Data Sahib, Rahman Baba, Bulleh Shah and their contemporaries strove tirelessly out of their sheer devotion to the Creator, and their devotion inspired millions to embrace Islam.

‘Weapons’ of the Sufi

He termed truth, love and acceptance ‘weapons’ of the Sufi. The very first step towards healing is acceptance. Our society stands deeply wounded today and the wound continues to fester, unchecked and untreated — most of us too afraid to acknowledge the disease, too afraid to expose the malaise.

He said Sindh is known as the land of Sufis. He pointed out that from Lal Shahbaz Qalandar to Shah Abdul Latif we are destined to stand up for the truth. Is there any surprise, then, that the Bhutto family hails from this very land, he added.

He said when his mother Benazir Bhutto raised the “flag of truth”, there were few who were willing to lend their voices to hers. But she continued, undaunted, in the proud tradition of Sufism, fighting the most important fight against injustice.

The PPP chief said the barbaric attacks targeting the shrine of Lal Shahbaz Qalandar shook us all to the core. The devotees that were killed took a piece of us with them. We lost our bearings, devastated, disorientated. We were lost. It was then, after suicide bombers blew themselves up, that one man decided he would not cower. He got up and rang the shrine’s bell. That bell served two purposes. First, it guided us out of the dark abyss into which we were spiralling. Second, it was the death knell for every extremist that dared to target pluralistic Pakistan.

Just like that bell-ringer, we too must not be afraid to give voice to our beliefs. We need to find in ourselves the courage to acknowledge that we are flawed and the strength to accept that we need help. If today we allow ourselves to fall silent, then tomorrow there may be no one left to hear us.

Solution to fanaticism

Earlier, Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah talked about the menace of fanaticism. He said the solution to the problem lay in Sufism. Sindh was the land of Sufis, which is why it is called the seat of learning and cradle of peace.

Mr Shah said he was closer to Sufism because he belonged to Sehwan, the land of Lal Shahbaz Qalandar. Defining what Sufism is, he said it is the substance of truth and the instinct of being one with God.

Senior Sindh Minister Nisar Khuhro talked about the importance of a tolerant, pluralistic and democratic society.

Culture Minister Syed Sardar Ali Shah welcomed the guests.

The first formal session of the first day of the conference was on ‘countercultural narratives’.

In her keynote address, Regula Qureshi gave a presentation on Sufi music. She said she has been a student of Sufism for the last 50 years. The first European to perform Haj was her ancestor.

Ms Qureshi said she has studied Indian music and has always been interested in ‘sound’. In the 1960s there were Sufi groups in Karachi holding sama’a meetings. Back then she didn’t know about it. Then she learned that it’s not music, it’s something more potent.

She also mentioned how the situation has changed in terms of presenting music. She showed a clip from a qawwali in the 1970s performed in a simple fashion and compared it to nowadays, where there’s more tamasha ‘to attract people’.

Published in Dawn, May 6th, 2017