Venue: Canberra

Date: 7-9 April 2016

This talk discusses the politics of organizing Muslim religious festivals (urs or meely) in South Punjab, Pakistan. Unlike famous urban shrines of Lahore, Islamabad, or Multan; these small countryside holy places are not governed/managed by the Punjab Government’s Department of Religious Affairs. As the provincial government does not organize annual religious festivals of these shrines, the district bureaucrats simply impose the British-developed (Section 144) law on the festivals and ban the gathering. This provides an opportunity to local politicians who by bribing the district bureaucrats, organize the religious festivals and build their cultural, symbolic, and economic capital. I argue that the colonial law that provided a pathway to the British to control the pilgrims’ gatherings, minimize the risk of affrays and riots, and control the bodies, is still utilized by the district authorities and local politicians of South Punjab to strengthen and perpetuate power in the area.