April 9, 2003	Wednesday	Safar 6, 1424

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MULTAN, April 8: The three-day annual Urs of Hazrat Bahauddin Zakariya Multani began here on Tuesday.

Makhdoom Shah Mahmood Qureshi performed the ‘ghusal’ of the shrine in the presence of Punjab Minister for Literacy and Special Education Husain Jahanian Gardezi and Auqaf department secretary Javed Iqbal Awan.

Controversy surrounded the Urs celebrations during the second tenure of Nawaz Sharif when Amer Ghaus and PML’s Makhdoom Javed Hussain, claiming that they were the ‘original’ heirs to the saint, held separate ceremony under the official patronage.

The claimants did not turn up to hold a separate ceremony after the ouster of Nawaz Sharif. But the local administration kept on holding a ceremony separately. It was after several years that the government and the heirs to the saint jointly started the annual Urs.

Speaking at the ceremony, Makhdoom Shah Mahmood Qureshi said that the Urs celebrations of Hazrat Bahauddin Zakariya and Hazrat Shah Rukn-i-Alam were made controversial for political reasons.

He said Chief Minister Pervaiz Elahi had ended the controversy by sending Punjab government representatives to attend the ceremony, organized by the heirs to the saint.

He also thanked federal minister Ghaus Buksh Mehr for running special trains from Sindh for the followers of the saint.