LAHORE, March 21: The three-day annual Urs of Hazrat Data Ganj Bakhsh concluded here on Tuesday night with special prayers for national solidarity and welfare of ummat. Nearly two million devotees from all parts of the country visited his shrine on his 962nd urs. Free food and milk was distributed at the shrine by the devotees. The provincial government declared local holiday on Tuesday to enable maximum number of people to attend the urs.

Prominent qawwals enthralled the devotees with the verses of sufi poets at the Samaa Hall throughout the day. Radio Pakistan broadcast the mefil-i-samaa on Monday night live.

Life and teachings of the saint and the literary and spiritual aspects of his book Kashaful Mahjoob were discussed by prominent religious scholars at four literary meetings held at the Data Darbar Complex. Those, who participated in the meetings, included Mufti Munibur Rehman, Sahibzada Pir Afzal Qadri, Dr Farrukh Hafeez, Prof Qari Mushtaq Ahmad, Maulana Elahi Bakhsh Qadri, Allama Razauddin Siddiqi, Mualana Nawaz Bashir Jilani, Allama Syed Mazhar Saeed Kazmi, Sahibzada Pir Noorul Haq, Allama Syed Husainuddin Shah, Pir Mian Khalil Ahmad, Allama Yaqoob Qadri, Maulana Allah Bakhsh Nayyer, Prof Zafarul Haq Jandialvi, Pir Syed Mahfoozul Haq, Khwaja Pir Ghulam Mian, Khwaja Ghulam Qutubuddin Zaidi, Pir Syed Ali Asghar Gilani, Sahibaza Zia Mohyuddin, Allama Sharif Rizvi, Maulana Abdul Aziz Chishti and Qari Naeemul Mustafa. — Reporter