MITHI: Three-day ‘Thar art, craft and literature’ festival which showcases beauty of the desert region kicked off at Shaheed Benazir Bhutto Cultural Complex here on Friday.

Various organisations and individuals had set up stalls to put on display cultural handicrafts and local art at the festival, which was organised by Thar Art Council.

Syed Akbar Shah, station director of Radio Pakistan Mithi, said at the event’s opening ceremony that such programmes were the need of the hour as they promoted culture, customs, music, exemplary interfaith harmony and other beautiful aspects of the desert region, which had become hub of tourism and other healthy activities over the past few years.

Bilawal Otho, senior poet and broadcaster, said that Thar was now fast turning into one of the biggest tourism destinations of the country and such cultural events would greatly boost the area’s image as well as help discover new talent.

Pakistan Peoples Party’s Senator Gianchand said that the festival would go a long way in promoting culture, art and crafts of Thar region and show to the world the various beautiful aspects of the desert.

He lauded efforts of the festival organisers and said that despite being an arid zone dependent on rainfall Thar had always greatly contributed to music and produced world famous singers, musicians and artists whose names would continue to glitter on firmament.

He said the PPP government in Sindh and the party’s top leadership had always encouraged healthy activities and provided every possible support to those who made sincere efforts to show the world beautiful face of Thar.

He said that Thar was passing through a transition and these events were the need of the hour to attract attention of people around the globe to its beauty and rich culture, crafts and heritage.

Kishor Aswani, Kanwar Jaipal, Chander Aswani and others said that they organised the three-day event to present Thar’s unmatched beauty. They had invited people from various walks of life to read out papers on different aspects of Thar.

They said that the festival featured different sessions on a number of books written on Thar, which would also be launched on occasion, and singers, artists and craftsmen would be provided an opportunity to share their viewpoints. They said that these sessions would be attended and moderated by eminent writers, poets, singers and craftsmen from other parts of Sindh and beyond.

Published in Dawn, November 14th, 2020