SAHIWAL: Students and volunteers of Punjab Lok Rahs (PLR) organised and presented the first live puppet show in Sahiwal city on Monday.

A 30-minute Punjabi puppet play ‘Pehchan’ was performed on the last day of the three-day Expo 2014 organised by the Sahiwal Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI) at the Hockey Stadium.

SCCI President Chaudhry Zahid Husain said the puppet show was part of a cultural component of the expo.

“Along with industrial exhibition where local manufacturers display their locally manufactured goods and services, the people of Sahiwal enjoyed and experienced cultural diversity,” he added.

Two local Ravi Jhoomer groups performed for visitors daily.

Sanwal Jhoomer group leader Babar told Dawn they got “great response” for their performance from the people.

The Punjabi play was written by Lakht Pasha and directed by Mamoona Amjad.

It revolved around a complex situation faced by Mana, a child from a lower middle class family whose parents, family members and neighbours conversed in Punjabi.

He was enrolled in a government school and spoke in Punjabi with his classmates but his teacher scolded him for using the language in class and school.

The director said this was the first puppet performance by Sahiwal’s youth volunteers. She further said Lok Rahs had organised a three-day puppet workshop conducted by Idrees Ali Khan in Lahore. She said the PLR was planning to organise various puppet shows, especially among marginalised communities such as Bhutto Nagar, Jahaz Ground, Gala Mandi, Pakpattan Chowk and Railway Road.

More than 100 local manufacturers and industrialists participated in this second expo in the city. Proprietor of Al-Asar Motors, Imran, said such exhibitions gave a lot of confidence to local manufacturers and cottage industry.