KASUR, Aug 26: The 250th annual Urs of Sufi poet Hazrat Baba Bulleh Shah commenced here on Sunday with traditional chaddar-laying ceremony.

An Indian delegation of intellectuals and parliamentarians paid homage to the saint amid tight security arrangements.

Later, a joint meeting of Indian and Pakistani intellectuals was held at ‘Sulha Kul conference’ organised by the district administration. Kasur DCO Saeed Akhtar Ansari, District Nazim Rana Hayat, Tehsil Nazim Naveed Hashim Rizvi and MNA Chaudhry Manzoor Ahmad welcomed the dignitaries who included parliamentarian Nirmala Deshpandey, Kuldip Nayar and Dr Harbajan Singh.

They were all praise for Baba Bulleh Shah’s message of peace and love and expressed resolve to cultivate friendly relations between India and Pakistan.

The intellectuals shared the opinion that the governments should do away with visa restrictions which reeked of “a deliberate attempt to prevent the people of the two countries from mixing”.

MNA Chaudhry Manzoor demanded that a Bulleh Shah university should be set up in Kasur to promote the Punjabi language.