Uch Sharif

Ancient Sufi town with 15th-century tilework tombs, 75km west

Uch Sharif, 75 kilometres west of Bahawalpur, is one of the most significant but least visited historical sites in Pakistan. The town contains the remains of several important Sufi shrines from the 13th to 15th centuries, including the tomb of Bibi Jawindi (1493), decorated with geometric glazed tilework in blue, white, and turquoise. The effect, especially in the afternoon light, is extraordinary.

The tomb complex sits on a slight rise above the modern town, and several other shrines cluster nearby: the tomb of Jalaluddin Surkh Bukhari and the ruins of much older structures visible at the edge of the bank above the Sutlej. Local young men offer informal tours through the backstreets for a small fee. Uch is worth a half-day from Bahawalpur.

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A story
Uch is one of the oldest continuously inhabited sites in South Asia — Alexander the Great is believed to have passed through, and the city was a major Islamic centre from the 8th century. At its medieval peak it was a city of 200,000 people, a vast metropolis by the standards of the time. Today the population is a few thousand, and the tomb monuments are all that remain of that grandeur.

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