Steeped in ancient mysticism, passion of Pakistani Sufis infuriates Taliban


  • World
  • Friday, 27 Sep 2013

SEHWAN SHARIF, Pakistan (Reuters) - Yielding to the hypnotic beat of drums and the intoxicating scent of incense, the woman danced herself into a state of trance, laughing and shaking uncontrollably alongside hundreds of others at Pakistan's most revered Sufi shrine.

Swathed in red, the Sufi colour of passion, she shouted invocations to the shrine's patron saint in an ecstatic ritual repeated daily in the dusty town of Sehwan Sharif on the banks of the river Indus.

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