Islamists destroy prized saints mausoleums in Timbuktu- UNESCO world heritage site on danger

UPDATE 2-Mali Islamists destroy holy Timbuktu sites

* Witnesses say Ansar Dine fighters take pick-axes to sites

* Attacks comes days after UNESCO danger warning

* Islamists now have upper hand in Mali’s north (Adds further details, switches dateline to BAMAKO, adds byline)

By Adama Diarra

BAMAKO, June 30 (Reuters) – Al Qaeda-linked Mali Islamists armed with Kalashnikovs and pick-axes began destroying prized mausoleums of saints in the UNESCO-listed northern city of Timbuktu on Saturday in front of shocked locals, witnesses said.

The Islamist Ansar Dine group backs strict sharia, Islamic law, and considers the shrines of the local Sufi version of Islam idolatrous. Sufi shrines have also been attacked by hardline Salafists in Egypt and Libya in the past year.

The attack came just days after UNESCO placed Timbuktu on its list of heritage sites in danger and will recall the 2001 dynamiting by the Taliban of two 6th-century statues of Buddha carved into a cliff in Bamiyan in central Afghanistan.

“They have already completely destroyed the mausoleum of Sidi Mahmoud (Ben Amar) and two others. They said they would continue all day and destroy all 16,” local Malian journalist Yeya Tandina said by telephone of the 16 most prized resting grounds of local saints in the town.

“They are armed and have surrounded the sites with pick-up trucks. The population is just looking on helplessly,” he said, adding that the Islamists were currently taking pick-axes to the mausoleum of Sidi El Mokhtar, another cherished local saint.

Courtesy: Reuters

http://af.reuters.com/article/maliNews/idAFL6E8HU0XU20120630

Sikhs kept out of their own temple for Shab-e-Barat

By Abdul Manan

LAHORE: The Sikh community in Lahore have been prevented from observing a religious celebration at a gurdwara, their musical equipment thrown out and their entry barred, after a religious group persuaded the Evacuee Trust Property Board (ETPB) that celebrating the Muslim holy day of Shab-e-Barat was more important than the Sikh religious festival.

Police have been deployed outside the temple to prevent the Sikhs from conducting their religious ceremonies until the end of Shab-e-Barat, which falls on July 18 this year. The Sikh community wanted to commemorate an eighteenth-century saint on July 16.

The Gurdwara Shaheed Bhai Taru Singh, in Naulakha Bazaar, Lahore, is built to honour the memory of a Sikh saint who was executed in 1745 on the orders of the Mughal governor of Punjab, Zakaria Khan. Every July, the Sikh community has held religious ceremonies to commemorate his sacrifice in the service of humanity.

While the temple was taken over by the ETPB after Partition, the Sikh community had been allowed to continue using it with relatively few restrictions. …

Read more → THE EXPRESS TRIBUNE

SINDHI BHAJAN – MUHINJE GURUA JE DAR TE KO BHGGAN WARO ACHE

About → H.H Sant Shri Asaram ji Bapu preaches the existence of One Supreme Universal Conscious in every human being; be it Hindu, Muslim, Christian, Jew, Sikh or anyone else.

→ YouTube

Ambassador Munter & Dr. Wyatt Visit Bit Shah Shrine

Bhit Shah: Ambassador Cameron Munter and his wife, Dr. Marilyn Wyatt visited the land of Sufi saint Shah Abdul Latif and marveled at the beauty of Bit Shah shrine in Matiari district, along with U.S. Consul General William Martin and C.G. information officer, Ms. Andie, they laid a cloth at the tomb and listened to traditional music with mystic fragrance. They were so happy to experience the rich Sufi cultural  heritage and to see the history and the peaceful traditions of Sindh.

People of Bhit Shah feel so glad to see honorable guests in their town and they appreciated Ambassador Cameron Munter’s visit to Bhit Shah Shrine.

Source – News adopted from facebook.

BHAGAT KANWAR RAM : A SUFI SAINT OF SINDH

– YouTube link

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Ruk Station and Sufi Saint singer and musician of Sindh, martyr (Shaheed) Bhaggat Kanwarram are synonyms. Ruk station is the place where this legend and icon of religious harmony, Ahansa and peace was murdered in November 1-2, 1939. His voice was very melodious and ranged over a very wide scale. His recordings of devotional songs were famous all over Sindh.  His songs broadcast regularly over radio Ceylon (Hindi Service) during 1950s & 60s. Sufi mystic Saint Bhaggat Kanwarram and master chander’s songs were also broadcast from Radio Hyderabad, Sindh but dictator Ayoub Khan put ban on both legend singers of Sindh. The songs of both singer were banned up to dictator Zia’s rule. Their songs came back again to Radio Pakistan Hyderabad, when Benazir Bhutto’s elected democratic government came in power after the long “Movement for Restoration of Democracy” (MRD – 1983 and 1986).