Mela Karsal

[Ali_Syed]

Re: Mela Karsal

@muqawwee123

Dancing to the tunes of Sufi saints - DAWN.COM

It may be noted that dance at the shrines of Sufi saints in the subcontinent is a ritual during the Urs (annual fair). Dance called “Dhamal” in Punjabi was originally attributed to the shrines of two saints: Hazrat Lal Shahbaz Qalandar in Sehvan Sharif and Hazrat Syed Abdul Latif known as Bari Imam of Islamabad. Hundreds of dancing girls still rush towards Sehvan Sharif every year where they perform to pay homage to the Sufi saint. However, the dance was banned at Bari Imam’s shrine perhaps when Gen. Ziaul Haq seized power.

The dancing girls still attend the Urs of Bari Imam but they do not perform and the more painful aspect is that the federal government has failed to hold the Urs of Bari Imam for the last a few years on the pretext of security.

However, thousands of disciples throng the shrine in May, the month of Urs. The same tragedy has happened to the Urs of Waris Shah, the Shakespeare of Punjabi language, whose Urs, which used to attract thousands of people from across the country, is not being held for the last a few years.

Government should try regulate the urs’s.