PAKISTAN: Shi'ites in Pakistan flagellate themselves to mark the anniversary of the death of one of the sect's heroes.

Record ID: 872915

  • Title: PAKISTAN: Shi'ites in Pakistan flagellate themselves to mark the anniversary of the death of one of the sect's heroes.
  • Date: 30th January 2007
  • Summary: MOURNERS CARRYING FLAGS AND MARCHING CLOSE OF FLAG MORE OF FLAG WITH HAND SIGN ANOTHER BANNER WITH HANDS SIGN AND CROSSED SWORDS
  • Embargoed: 14th February 2007 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Pakistan
  • City:
  • Country: Pakistan
  • Topics: Religion
  • Reuters ID: LVAAGK91JGIO2Q6F5IOG23I0Q750
  • Aspect Ratio:
  • Story Text: The Shi'ite community held a procession in Islamabad on Monday (January 29), beating themselves in mourning for the death of Imam Hussein, a grandson of the Prophet Mohammad. Pakistani police were on high alert as thousands of the Shi'ite Muslim community including men, women and children observing their holiest month of Muharram, began a mourning procession in Islamabad.
    Policemen set up barriers on various roads leading into Pakistan's capital, a day after two people were killed in a suicide attack in the city as investigations continued to establish the identity and motive behind the blast.
    The Shi'ite community in Pakistan and throughout the Islamic world began a month of mourning, known as Muharram, to mark the anniversary of the death of Imam Hussein, a grandson of the Prophet, during a battle in 680 A.D. in Kerbala, a city in modern-day Iraq.
    The climax of Muharram, known as Ashura, when worshippers beat themselves with sharpened chains during Shi'ite processions.
    "This day teaches us how Islam can be safeguarded; how Islam can be protected like it was at the time of Imam Hussein (a grandson of the Prophet)," said, Syed Gohar Abbas, a businessman.
    Pakistan has been braced for a fresh outburst of sectarian violence during Muharram, when the country's Shi'ite minority mourns the death of one of the heroes of its sect.
    Cars were stopped and searched at random in Islamabad, which was quieter than usual ahead of holidays.
    The coming days mark an anxious period for the country's Shi'ite minority as they mourn the death of one their sect's heroes. So far, there has been no reaction to events in Iraq, but Pakistani leaders view what is happening there with trepidation, as 15 percent of the Muslim nation are Shi'ites.
    The Peshawar blast came a day after another suicide bomber killed himself and a security guard outside the Marriott hotel in a high security zone of Islamabad.
    During last year's Ashura, a suicide bomber killed at least 40 people and wounded dozens in an attack on a Shi'ite procession in the town of Hangu in the North West Frontier Province. During 2003, at least 57 Shi'ites were killed in Quetta during Ashura.
    Security has been beefed-up at Shi'ite community centres across the country and troops paraded in major cities in a show of power on Monday (January 29) aimed at deterring violence during Ashura, which falls on Jan. 29-30 in Pakistan.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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