TULAMBA, Pakistan: Traditional drumbeats and melodious shahnai flutes are drowned out by thundering hooves in the small Pakistani city of Tulamba, as riders pound down a dusty track seeking world record glory in the ancient sport of tent-pegging.
Riders in bright costumes drive their lances into the targets, wooden pegs embedded in the dry ground, their aim sometimes obscured by the dust kicked up by other competitors.
The cavalry sport requires a mounted horseman to pierce and pick up a peg from the ground at a full gallop.
"This is the sport of young lions," local politician Shaukat Hayat Bosan told AFP. "For this sport not only a good horse but a good rider is also necessary."
This year's event organised by the Muhammadiya Hyderia Sultania Awan Club in Tulamba, held on Wednesday, aimed to be a little different: organisers claim they used it to set six world records.
Admittedly, organiser Shahzada Sultan Muhammad Ali said, there had been no mention of tent pegging in the Guinness Book of World Records previously.
But, he told the crowd, they established a record for 120 horses reaching the finish line in 166 seconds, and for uprooting 90 tent pegs at once, among others.
They are awaiting final confirmation from Guinness officials.
Organisers hope the bid will draw much-needed international attention to the sport.
Popular for centuries on the sub-continent, tent-pegging has become a dying pastime in Pakistan, mainly kept alive in wealthy Punjab province.
There it remains part of cultural celebrations in urban areas, where riders dress up in traditional waistcoats and turbans of vibrant colors while horses are fitted with shining saddles.
Muhammad Sohail, one of the participants in Tulamba, took the opportunity to call for more support for the sport.
"We are promoting this sport on our own," he said, calling on the Pakistani government to help.
In 2018 Pakistan qualified for the first time in a decade to participate in the tent-pegging World Cup held in the UAE. A total of 12 teams participated in the event.
Pakistanis seek world record in ancient sport of tent-pegging
Pakistanis seek world record in ancient sport of tent-pegging
- The cavalry sport requires a mounted horseman to pierce and pick up a peg from the ground at a full gallop
- Organizers say they await final confirmation from Guinness officials for a world record
Peshawar church attack haunts Christians at Christmas
- The 2013 suicide attack at All Saints Church killed 113 worshippers, leaving lasting scars on survivors
- Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif vowed to protect religious minorities on Christmas, act against any injustice
PESHAWAR: After passing multiple checkpoints under the watchful eyes of snipers stationed overhead, hundreds of Christians gathered for a Christmas mass in northwest Pakistan 12 years after suicide bombers killed dozens of worshippers.
The impact of metal shards remain etched on a wall next to a memorial bearing the names of those killed at All Saints Church in Peshawar, in the violence-wracked province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
“Even today, when I recall that day 12 years ago, my soul trembles,” Natasha Zulfiqar, a 30-year-old housewife who was wounded in the attack along with her parents, told AFP on Thursday.
Her right wrist still bears the scar.
A militant group claimed responsibility for the attack on September 22, 2013, when 113 people were killed, according to a church toll.
“There was blood everywhere. The church lawn was covered with bodies,” Zulfiqar said.
Christians make up less than two percent of Pakistan’s 240 million people and have long faced discrimination in the conservative Muslim country, often sidelined into low-paying jobs and sometimes the target of blasphemy charges.
Along with other religious minorities, the community has often been targeted by militants over the years.
Today, a wall clock inside All Saints giving the time of the blast as 11:43 am is preserved in its damaged state, its glass shattered.
“The blast was so powerful that its marks are still visible on this wall — and those marks are not only on the wall, but they are also etched into our hearts as well,” said Emmanuel Ghori, a caretaker at the church.
Addressing a Christmas ceremony in the capital Islamabad, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif vowed to protect religious minorities.
“I want to make it clear that if any injustice is done to any member of a minority, the law will respond with full force,” he said.
For Azzeka Victor Sadiq, whose father was killed and mother wounded in the blasts, “The intensity of the grief can never truly fade.”
“Whenever I come to the church, the entire incident replays itself before my eyes,” the 38-year-old teacher told AFP.
