BAHAWALPUR: Deputy Commissioner Dr Farhan Rafique, along with local traders’ leaders, inaugurated a food street inside Farid Gate area on Wednesday at a colourful ceremony.

The event featured performance of Jhummar dance by local artists clad in traditional dresses, comprising colourful waist coats, turbans and Seraiki Khussas (local footwear), accompanied by horse dance.

The Farid Gate food street is a part of the festivities of the five-day Cholistan desert jeep rally, that kicked off here on Tuesday night. It has specially been set up to welcome thousands of people who visit the jeep rally, that has become an annual feature of the region.

The historic Farid Gate, was earlier known as Bekanari Gate, denoting its direction towards former princely state of Bikaner in India. However, later the gate was renamed after Sufi saintand seraiki poet Khawaja Ghulam Farid.

To mark the occasion, the Farid Gate and Farid Chowk area has been illuminated with colourful lights. Inside the Farid Gate, the shops and hotels of Shahi Bazaar have also been decorated with lights, beams, balloons and flags.

The eateries in the Farid Gate food street offer traditional local dishes, especially Swajana, a popular dish made of buds of a self-growing plant in the desert area; Saag with butter and maize bread (roti) and other delicacies of Cholistan, along with camel milk and yogurt drink (lassi) to the visitors.

The five-day jeep rally events attract thousands of visitors every year from across the country, many of whom also visit Bahawalpur and enjoy local food. The eateries and other shops in the city do a roaring business during the desert motorsports event.

Addressing the food street inaugral event, the DC expressed the hope that shopkeepers and restaurant owners would extend maximum facilities to the visitors so they could enjoy a variety of local and traditional dishes, especially those of Cholistan.

Meanwhile, Dawn has learnt that the drivers and owners of the vehicles participating in the jeep rally on Wednesday shifted to the Cholistan desert, where after completion of their registration process, their vehicles were technically examined. The drivers were also medically examined at TDCP resort. The qualifying round of the rally will be held on Thursday (today) at Dilwash Stadium in the desert area.

HUNGER STRIKE: On the call of the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists, members and office-bearers of Bahawalpur Union of Journalists (BhUJ) led by president Amin Abbasi and former president A. Majeed Gill set up a hunger-strike camp, where they observed toke hunger strike, demanding the repeal of Peca Act.

They also demanded reinstatement of the journalists sacked by different private TV channels and newspapers across the country.

Published in Dawn, February 13th, 2025