26 April 2004	Monday	05 Rabi-ul-Awwal 1425

KARACHI, April 25: A 47-member team of Indian street-children, in the last leg of their friendly cricket tour, is arriving in Sindh on Monday morning.

The tour has been organized jointly by a UK-based NGO, ActionAid, and their local partners Insaan Foundation (Lahore), SPARC (Islamabad) and Leapfrog (India).

The team had started the tour from Lahore on April 20. It had planned to play five tape-ball matches. While three matches, one each in Lahore, Kasur and Rawalpindi, have already been played, the remaining two are to be played in Sindh.

The teams formed to play against each other would have players from both the countries to promote better understanding and friendship. The guests will arrive at Rohri railway station on Monday whereas the fourth match of the series would be played at Larkana on Tuesday. The fifth and last match would be played at Karachi on Wednesday.

Different civil society organizations have organized cultural programmes for the visitors at Sukkur, Larkana, Khairpur Mirs and Karachi. The district government of Sukkur has scheduled a reception for the guest children at the local Circuit House on Monday.

The Larkana Shehri Ittehad (an NGO) has organized a public reception which would be followed by 'Dosti Music Festival' to be held under the auspices of the Indus Development Society. Young artists and folk singers, including Riaz Soomro, Wazir Ali, Kanwal, Ashique Ali, Amanullah Shaikh and Sherbaz Abbasi, would be performing at the festival.

The folk singers would present Kalam of Shah Abdul Latif Bhitai, Sachal Sarmast, Bullhe Shah, Baba Farid, and other mystic poets. At the public reception organized by the Pakistan India People's Forum for Peace and Democracy in Khairpur Mirs, Ayaz Malah and others will recite Hindi songs.

In Karachi, the team will play the last match at Asghar Ali Stadium. A musical concert, where the 'Strings' musical group will perform and sing peace and friendship songs, has also been organized for the guests. The tour will conclude with the public reception, to be hosted by the Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum, an interactive theatre, and a social gathering at the YMCA under the auspices of the PILER, on Thursday.