DADU: With four more deaths of devotees on the final day of the 770th urs celebrations of Lal Shahbaz Qalandar in Sehwan on Thursday, total death toll during the three days of urs reached nine, according to Edhi and hospital sources.

The devotees, who hailed from different parts of the country, mostly died of heart stroke.

Sehwan Edhi Centre in-charge Sarwar Shaikh said that Edhi ambulances had transported nine bodies over the three days. The centre picked bodies of four devotees from the Institute of Syed Abdullah Shah Medical and Health Sciences on Thursday.

The bodies were identified as those of Arbab, 50, resident of Dadu; Ashraf, 45, resident of Lahore; Mehboob, 60, of Lahore; Shabnam, 60, a resident of Rahimyar Khan, he said.

He said that three devotees had died on Wednesday, the second day of urs, and the centre had picked the bodies from the institute. They were identified as Akram, 55, resident of Arif Wala; Mohammad Asgar, 40, of Bahawalpur and Zamir, 60, a resident of Faisalabad, he said.

Three days of 770th Qalandar urs celebrations conclude in Sehwan

He said the centre’s ambulances picked two bodies from the institute on Tuesday, the first day of urs. They were identified as Karam Bibi, 55, resident of Sadiqabad, and Imtiaz, 50, a resident of Orangi town Karachi, he said.

He said that the bodies were sent to their native areas.

Dr Moeenuddin Siddiqui, director of the institute, confirmed the death of four devotees at the hospital and said they had died of heart attack. None of them had died from heatstroke, he said.

Three days of urs celebrations conclude

Sindh Minister for Mines and Minerals Shabbir Bijarani and adviser to Sindh chief minister on religious affairs, auqaf, ushr and zakat, Fyaz Ahmed Butt, laid chador on the grave of Lal Shahbaz Qalandar to officially conclude the three days of the 770th urs celebrations of the saint in Sehwan on Thursday.

The minister and the adviser told journalists outside the shrine after paying their respects to the saint that Pakistan Peoples Party’s talks with Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan over the vote of no confidence against Prime Minister Imran Khan had entered final phase.

Mr Bajarani believed allies of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf would support the opposition parties’ move. All opposition parties were united on one platform and the no trust vote was bound to be successful, he said.

He said that if Prime Minister Imran Khan was that much confident about failure of the vote then why he was trying to escape from it. It meant clearly that Imran Khan knew he had lost majority in National Assembly, he said.

He said that Imran Khan had pursued only on one-point agenda hence even his major allies and PTI’s own members were not happy with him. The prime minister had not done anything to develop the country nor launched any development projects, he had only made false promises of creation of jobs and provision of houses, he said.

He said that PTI government would soon come to an end as a result the struggle being waged by PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari.

He said that president and governor could not take any step against the constitution and impose governor’s rule in Sindh, which could be imposed only on the basis of solid reasons, which were absent, he said.

Published in Dawn, March 25th, 2022