KARACHI, Sept 7: The messages of love and peace in the poetry of Sufi saints and those of struggle for rights were conveyed in three presentations on the second day of a cultural festival being held at a local hotel late on Monday night.

The three-day festival - Cultural Action for Change - is being organized by a non-governmental organization, the Actionaid, in collaboration with the Dastak Society for Communications, Interactive Resource Centre and the Folklore Society of Pakistan.

The festival comprises sessions of storytelling, interactive theatre and Maganhaar music. After this one, similar festivals will also be organized in the Islamabad and Lahore. The two festivals will be held only for a day.

Speaking on behalf of the organizers, Dr Fouzia Saeed, Khalid Ahmad, Mohammad Waseem and others said that culture united people and gave expressions to the marginalized communities, so unless the masses were deeply involved in cultural action they could not bring about any positive change in the society.

They said that their organizations were working with the marginalized communities with a view to promote their identity, cultural heritage and right to empower them to fight against poverty.

The first presentation, "An-Al-Haq Kalam", was made by the Khairpur Storytelling Group, which highlighted the importance of the messages of Sufi poets and saints on social issues.

It reflected the Sufi influence in Sindh that espouses an intensely secular mysticism. The story was about the custody of a child without a religious identity, which included quotes from Sachal Sarmast, who, through his poetry, described the issues related to human soul without any religious bias.

The Turbat Theatre Group, in its play, "Wassail Tak Rasaee" (Access to Resources), highlighted an issue that had gripped the area-wise largest provinces of the country, Balochistan, where huge investments were being made in the shape of mega projects like the world class coastal highway and the deep sea port at Gwadar, at the cost of marginalization of the local population.

The play also highlighted the issues being faced by the youth, who was being denied jobs despite tall claims of huge investment and development in their respective areas. The natives got frustrated when they see that the fruits of the so-called development were going to 'outsiders'.

It was also deplored through the play that in these projects the local people were being denied jobs, or if they were provided jobs these were only low-paid manual labour work, that too on temporary basis.

The members of the Lower Sindh Rural Development Organization (LSRDO) presented a play on the theme of "Peace for All". The play stressed on the need for peace in the region, describing it vital for all.

The LSRDO group had been called in at the last minute as the Indian group - Rang Vidushak of Bhopal - that was scheduled to participate in the festival could not come as it was not issued the visas. The Bhopal-based theatre group had to present two plays, including "Gadhon Ka Mela".

The presentations also touched the theme of communal violence, based on different incidents that occurred in various parts of the country following the 9-11 attacks on the twin towers of the World Trade Centre in New York.

A presentation also touched on the issue of the discriminatory laws in the country, owing to which the weaker sections of the society, including women, minorities, etc, had become more vulnerable.