SUKKUR, Dec 6: District Nazim Syed Nasir Hussain Shah on Wednesday inaugurated the 138th annual Urs of sufi saint Faqir Qadir Bukhsh Bedil by laying a chadar on his shrine in Rohri.

Speaking on the occasion, the nazim said Bedil was a well-known literary personality of his era. He praised the Faqir for his literary works and said there was a need to collect and publish his unpublished works. He said it would be a source of inspiration and a beckon light for his followers and they should continue disseminating Bedil’s message of love and unity.

The nazim said the Bedil Yadgar Committee had published four books on Bedil this year. He gave an assurance that construction of the Bedil Auditorium in Rohri would be completed soon.

He also announced to increase the grant for the Bedil committee from Rs100,000 to Rs200,000 from the district government budget.

Hundreds of devotees have come to Rohri from all over Sindh to attend the three- day Urs.

After the inaugural ceremony, Mehfil-i-Sama (sufi music concert) was held in which Ali Bakhsh, Umeed Ali Bhat, Faqir Ali Nawaz, Faqir Sarwar and others presented verses of Bedil, Sachal Sarmast and other mystic bards in a captivating way. However, it was Ali Bakhsh’s rendering of Nanak Yusuf’s Umer Daraz Teri Allah Nigehban Howai which stole the show. The audience was so moved by the music that many of the participants, ranging from septuagenarians to children, started dancing.

A Mehfil-i-Mushaiara will be held on Thursday night. Poets from Sukkur, Khairpur, Shikarpur, Ghotki, and other parts of Sindh are expected to participate in the Mushaira. A literary conference will be held on the third day of the Urs.

Bedil Yadgar Committee secretary Akhtar Dargahi gave details about programmes to be held during the Urs.

PPP-SB: Activists belonging to the Sindh People’s Students Federation (Shaheed Bhutto), took out a protest rally and staged a sit-in in front of the Sukkur Press Club on Wednesday castigating the government for its failure to arrest those involved in the murder of Mir Murtaza Bhutto.

Led by Jawed Nohani, Habib-ur-Rehman and others, they marched on the main thoroughfares of the city and later converged outside the press club and staged a sit-in for two hours, suspending the vehicular traffic.