KHAIRPUR, March 26: The 261st Urs celebrations of Mir Janullah Shah, a Persian poet and first Khalifa of Sufi Shah Inayat Shaheed of Jhok, began at his shrine in Rohri on Sunday.

The celebrations began after Attaullah Shah Sattari, Sajjada Nasheen, Dargah Shah Inayat Shaheed, laid a wreath on the grave of Janullah Shah and performed Dastarbandi of Syed Sher Ali Shah alias Jawad Shah, custodian of Dargah Jaanullah Shah.

Faqirs of Dargah Jhok, poets, writers, Sajjada Nasheen Dargah Bedal-Bekas Mian Najaf Qureshi, Jam Saqi, MPAs Haji Anwar Mahar and Dr Nasrullah Baloch, Wazir Abro, Akhtar Dargahi and others were also present.

Imamuddin Faqir Dakhan, Bhagchand Faqir, Ghulam Ali Sandelo, Mehboob Faqir, Ali Bux Shaikh, Ali Nawaz, Ashiq Faqir, Umeed Ali Bhat, Bahoo Rai, Aslam Bhatti, Ali Bux Nizamani and others sang Sufi songs.

Sufi Shah Inayat Shaheed had said about Sufi Janullah Shah: "He who saw Janullah Shah, saw me.” He uttered these words while decorating Janullah Shah with a crown and a saffron dress worn by mystic people.

When Mughal ruler Farrukh Sair planned to attack the Jhok commune and an armed force headed to Jhok, a meeting of Sufi Faqirs was called at Jhok. In the meeting, Janullah Shah suggested that the advancing army should be stopped before it attacked Jhok but Shah Inayat differed with his idea on the ground that such a move would lead to bloodshed of common people.