LAYYAH: The three-day Thal festival and jeep rally ended with a bang here on Saturday night in Choubara, the desert tehsil of Layyah district.

The first Thal jeep rally was organised by the Punjab tourism department which had started from Tibba Shahwala near Head Muhammadwala in Muzaffargarh district on Nov 5.

The jeep rally was scheduled to start at 8am but due to fog it commenced at 9:30am. The participants had a 20-minute mid break at Choubara in Layyah. The district government with the collaboration of different associations organised three-day Thal festival at the mid break point of the rally.

A large number of people enjoyed the horse and camel dance, tent pegging, traditional and cultural dances like Jhummer, Bhangra and Luddi along with musical night.

The participants in the rally at mid break point were received with the beat of drums.

The A category winner was Sahibzada Sultan Muhammad Ali who is also the winner of Cholistan rally. He covered 191-km track in two hours, 20 minutes and 11.25 seconds. Asad Khoro who stood second, reached his destination in two hours, 40 minutes and 22.82 seconds. Arif Inam secured third position and took two hours, 40 minutes and 39. 22 seconds to reach the last point.

In category B race, Zain Muhammad was the first to reach the final point in two hours, 31 minutes and 30.62 seconds. Mr. Saranjam bagged second position with two hours, 41 minutes and 50.07 seconds. Muhammad Jaffar Magsi stood third with two hours, 48 minutes and 52.28 seconds.

In category C, Muhammad Rafiq got first position by covering the track in two hours, 50 minutes and 51.43 seconds.

Mr. Bhurran Ahmed and Gohar Solangi stood second and third consuming two hours, 51 minutes 55.01 seconds and three hours, 18 minutes and 2.86 seconds, respectively to cover the track.

In category D, Zafar Khan, Amanullah and Dawood Abbasi secured first, second and third positions, respectively. The first position stalk motor category results were not announced due to some controversy. The organiser said the results would be announced at a later date. Of 66 motorists, 30 reached the destination.

Renown racers Nadar Magsi and Rony Patel had to leave the race as their vehicles broke down during the event.

In the three-day Thal festival, students of schools, colleges and university sub-campuses arranged different stalls to promote local culture by displaying handicrafts and embroidery.

Published in Dawn, November 7th, 2016