SEHWAN: The Sufi ritual of dhamaal resumed at the shrine of Lal Shahbaz Qalandar on Friday, a day after a suicide attack ripped through devotees at the shrine while the ritual was being performed after evening prayers. At least 88 people were killed and 270 injured in the suicide attack on Thursday evening, the worst attack on a Sufi shrine in country’s history.
At 3.30am on Friday morning, the shrine’s caretaker stood among the carnage and defiantly rang its bell, a daily ritual that he vowed to continue, saying he will ‘not bow down to terrorists’.
Later, devotees tried to break a police cordon to enter the shrine, saying they would not be deterred by the attack. The custodian of the shrine, Dr Syed Mehdi Raza Shah, also announced in the afternoon that the evening dhamaal would also continue as usual. Hundreds of devotees, undeterred and seemingly fearless, attended the evening ritual on Friday.
