KARACHI: Two police mobile vans now guard the main entrance to the shrine of Hazrat Abdullah Shah Ghazi as the security has been tightened since the terrorist attack at the shrine of Sufi saint Lal Shahbaz Qalandar in Sehwan on Feb 16.
Police officers at the shrine in Clifton explained that they received orders from the office of the inspector general of police who had recently visited it. Previously security had been beefed up after twin bomb attacks at the Ghazi shrine in October 2010.
According to an estimate, there are 160 shrines across Karachi and around 100 of these shrines, situated around the shores as well as areas lining the outskirts of the metropolis, are most visited by the devotees from Sindh and southern Punjab.
Although historians and researchers count many of these to be “linked to the city’s past”, there is an increasing security threat faced by many of these shrines. Some of the threat is due to the increasing encroachment surrounding the shrines, as pointed out by an activist Abdul Ghani who works to protect heritage sites in Karachi’s district west. He spoke about the shrine of Sakhi Sultan, also known as Baba or Peer Mangho, in Manghopir, which is surrounded by marble shops and tile makers. According to him, “areas at the back of the shrine still harbour support for the Taliban who were said to be booted out during the Rangers-led operation in Karachi”. This led to the fear among residents that the shrine and groups of gypsies living next to it needed to be alert, he said.
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