Men beat their chests in mourning to the death of Husain during the Chehlum ritual in Muzaffarabad. Rubbles of the city is still visible in the background, several months after a powerful earthquake struck Kashmir region.
In Pakistan, the Shia community makes up around 20 percent of the population. They engage in a variety of mourning rituals during the Ashura period, including self-flagellation. This time is observed to mourn the death of Husayn ibn Ali, the grandson of the Prophet Muhammad. The 40-day period lasts until the end of the mourning period known as Chehlum or Arbayn.
Muzaffarabad, Azad Kashmir, Pakistan, 2006