PAKISTAN-SECURITY/CROCODILES Pilgrims flood back to Karachi's crocodile shrine as Taliban threat recedes

Record ID: 135199

  • Title: PAKISTAN-SECURITY/CROCODILES Pilgrims flood back to Karachi's crocodile shrine as Taliban threat recedes
  • Date: 15th October 2015
  • Summary: KARACHI, PAKISTAN (OCTOBER 11, 2015) (REUTERS) EXTERIOR OF SUFI SHRINE OF HASAN AL-MAROOF SULTAN MANGHOPIR, BETTER KNOWN AS "CROCODILE SHRINE" DOME OF SHRINE SIGN READING NAME OF SAINT (Urdu): "HAZRAT KHWAJA HASAN ALMAROOF SAKHI SULTAN BABA MANGHO PIR" PILGRIMS ARRIVING, WALKING ALONG STREET PILGRIMS BUYING FLOWERS FROM SHOP OUTSIDE SHRINE ROSE PETALS PILGRIMS ENTERING SHR
  • Embargoed: 30th October 2015 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Pakistan
  • Country: Pakistan
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVAE8X9SB5IUMUH243YZTEU35CSA
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Visitors from Pakistan's Sheedi community, whose ancestors came from Africa, are flooding back to the southern city of Karachi's "crocodile shrine" after the threat of Taliban attack gradually recedes.
    Sheedis are drawn from different Muslim sects, making them a potential target for hardline militants who want to impose their strict interpretation of Islam on others.
    Sheedis new-found confidence coincides with a major crackdown on crime and militancy by paramilitary Rangers in the southern port city of 20 million people where the shrine is located, which has seen murder levels drop sharply.
    Mohammed Yaseen, the crocodile shrine's caretaker, remembers when displaced ethnic Pashtuns fleeing fighting in northern Pakistan began flooding into Karachi after 2008. Among them were Taliban sympathizers.
    "That was all because of the Taliban. They (people) were afraid of the Taliban. They used to kill innocent people. At the nearby police station they killed 18 policemen. Now the conditions have improved and people have started to return and their fear has gone," Yaseen said, light glinting off the tiny mirrors stitched onto his traditional cap.
    The Pakistani military has also been carrying out a major offensive against the Taliban movement in the northwest of the country since June, 2014, and its pursuit of militants gathered pace following the massacre of 134 school pupils in December.
    Militant attacks across the nuclear-armed nation of 190 million people have fallen by around 70 percent this year.
    In Karachi, Pakistan's economic hub, violence is still rife. But police say it is getting better, with 3,082 people murdered there since the crackdown started in 2013 compared with 4,790 murders in the two years before it began.
    In 2010, the crocodile shrine shut for ten months and a charity fed the crocodiles in secret. It quietly reopened in 2011, but only a handful of worshippers dared come.
    Gradually, greater security meant around 100 people might turn up on popular days last year. Now crowds of more than 1,000 people flock to the shrine several days a week.
    A wrinkled man at a wooden kiosk near the shrine sells the worshippers rose petals and other offerings.
    At the inner entrance to the shrine hall, a bearded man in a small black cap blesses pilgrims by patting their heads and shoulders with peacock feather quills.
    Among them was driver Mohammed Arif, 30, and his three children whose bright, freshly starched clothes shone in the gloom.
    "My father used to bring me to this shrine, now I bring my children," he said happily.
    Outside, the ancient crocodile, his leathery skin fissured by age, waddled out in front of a crowd of garland-bedecked pilgrims.
    The hungry days are over for Mor Sahib, as the 87-year-old reptile is known, now fed with handfuls of sweets or choice pieces of goat neck.
    The fall in violence has raised Sheedi hopes that they may hold their annual four-day festival before the end of the year. It has been cancelled for the last five years for fear of attack.
    Mohammed Yaqoob Qambarani, chairman of the Pakistan Sheedi Alliance, described the rituals.
    "They gather in the morning to carry out rituals. They slaughter goats. The pieces of goat neck are reserved for Mor Sahib which are only fed to him," he said.
    "This year we are planning to hold the festival. Many people ask, 'has the law and order situation improved that you are organising such a big event'? We appease them, we assure them. God willing, this year, we will resume our tradition so our young generation come to know about our traditions. The generation who grew up during last four, five years, they don't know about the rituals at Mangho Pir. Our traditions are fading out," he added.
    At the autumn festival, four Sheedi communities slaughter goats and dance to a drum beat before the crocodiles, who are showered with rose petals and anointed with perfume and saffron.
    The community believes the 100 or so crocodiles living in the shrine's pond are the disciples of saints.
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