Postcard from Pakistan: Raising Funds through Photographs

There isn’t a week that goes by without news that there has been more death and destruction in the form of suicide bombings or targeted sectarian violence.

The bomb blast in Karachi on Thursday was the latest in a series in the city that have attacked sufi shrines, and Shiite processions. It struck in the heart of the metropolis’s commercial centre, also marked off as a high security zone because of the five star hotels and embassies in the area. As the city sweeps up the glass that shattered in homes, shops and offices miles from the Criminal Investigation Department that was destroyed killing 17 and injuring hundreds more, Pakistan continues to struggle with problems created by the ongoing battle against militants which left millions of internally displaced people, a number which has multiplied after the floods that ravaged the length and breadth of the country in the summer.

Yet, civil society continues to help in any which way it can. DawnRelief, officially known as the Dawn Relief Earthquake Welfare Organisation, is a non-political, non-sectarian, voluntary social welfare organisation established in October 2005 by The Dawn Media Group.

PHOTO ENCOUNTER PAKISTAN is an initiative aimed at raising funds for Pakistan’s flood affected people and will feature over 300 photographs by Pakistan’s top photographers including Arif Ali, Umair Ghani, Tapu Javeri, Pervaiz A. Khan, Arif Mahmood, Mahmood Qureshi and Ayesha Vellani. The exhibition will take place in several cities throughout the United Kingdom, from the end of November to early December 2010.

Here’s a selection of some of the photographs that are due to go on display:

Boy scouts and girl guides outside Mohammad Ali Jinnah’s (Pakistan’s founder) mausoleum in Karachi on August 14 (Independence Day). Photo by Dawn

These tent peggers with lances aloft ride away after a day in the arena. Tent pegging is a popular equestrian sport in Pakistan. A rider, carrying a lance or sword, attempts to pull out a peg screwed into the ground. He wins four points if he is able to carry the peg for a distance of three metres. If the peg drops before, he only wins points. If he is unable to pull the peg, he is dropped from the game. Photo by Dawn.

Shah Abdul Latif Bhittai’s Shrine, Bhit Shah, Sindh. Elaborate kashi tiles in shades of blue decorate the surfaces of Shah Abdul Latif Bhittai’s shrine, which is built in typical Sindhi style with limestone domes, minarets, tile and mirror work. Photo by Dawn.