Security will be tight in Lahore during the commemoration of Ashura (Image: Express Tribune)

Lahore is in lockdown today and tomorrow as many Pakistanis observe the mourning rituals of Youm-e-Ashura, or the ‘Day of Ashura’.

Security has been tightened across the city and the nation for the ninth and tenth days of the Islamic month of Muharram. The event is the most important date of the year for the majority of Shia Muslims, and has in the past been the target of sectarian violence in Pakistan.

Thursday and Friday are public holidays in Pakistan, and many Lahoris are spending the days at home, avoiding public spaces. Police have installed additional security checkpoints on key city roads. Pillion riding on motorcycles has been banned for three days to aid police identification, and authorities have urged citizens to avoid non-essential travel. Mobile phone services have been suspended as an additional security measure.

This Ashura is particularly sensitive, coming just two weeks after the controversial killing of Pakistani Taliban leader Hakimullah Mehsud in a US-led drone attack, and five days after the death of militant group leader Naseeruddin Haqqani in a shootout.

Alawa Bibi Ashurakhana, Hyderabad, India, during Muharram last year

Ashura commemorates the martyrdom of Imam Hussain, grandson of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ. Imam Hussein Ibn Ali was brutally murdered in Karbala, in modern day Iraq, in the year 680. While the month of Muharram is an especially holy month for many Muslims, its history has particular resonance for Shia Muslims who observe it as a serious period of mourning.

Dressed almost exclusively in black, mourners are expected to pack imambargahs (mourning houses), also known as ashurakhanas, over the next two days. Crying, wailing and sobbing are all part of the event, which culminates in a mourning procession. The largest procession in Lahore usually occurs throughout the walled city, beginning and ending in a two-day circuit from Gamay Shah Imambargah.

The most vivid representation of the mourning of Muharram takes the form of matam, where emotional devotees strike themselves to evoke the pain of Imam Hussain’s suffering. While in many countries the self-beating is done with hands or fists, some devotees in Pakistan and India use razor-tipped chains and swords to whip their own backs (a practice known as zanjeer zani).

Zanjeer zani in Kandahar, Afghanistan (Image: The Guardian)

For many people, zanjeer zani is the most confronting aspect of Ashura, with devotees self-flagellating to the point where they are dripping with blood. Zanjeer zani is also surrounded by controversy in the Muslim community, with many groups (particularly Sunni Muslims) considering it barbaric and un-Islamic. Conversely, devotees maintain the importance of matam, which continues to be practiced in Iraq, Iran and much of South Asia.

With sectarian tensions heightened at this time, Ashura processions have frequently been targets of terrorism in the past. In 2004 at least 42 people were killed in an explosion at an Ashura procession in Quetta. In 2009 another 43 were killed by a bomb at an Ashura procession in Karachi. Last Ashura at least 52 people were killed when bombs exploded in the cities of Karachi, Quetta, Rawalpindi, Dera Ismail Khan and Bannu.