KARACHI, Dec 19: Speakers at an international conference on Sunday suggested that teachings of the Sufis like Shah Abdul Latif Bhittai, Sachal Sarmast and Bhai Chanrai Saami, which were based on love and peace be spread , so that the people in subcontinent could coexist in a peaceful and harmonious environment.

They were speaking at the second day of the three-day "Shah, Sachal and Saami: International Peace Conference" organized by the Sindh Graduates Association. A 32-member delegation of Indian Sindhi literary people is also participating in the conference.

The speakers, in their thought-provoking, well-researched papers, punctuated with select couplets from the works of the Sindhi Sufi poets, stressed that the saints of Sindh preached messages of liberalism, love, peace and universal brotherhood.

They stressed that in the present environment, it had become all the more important that such messages be spread widely, so that the world could become a better place for future generations to coexist peacefully.

They said that the Sufi poetry highlighted the issues faced by the common man, and it was a proof of the greatness of these saints that their poetry was still relevant, and people could still identify with the issues taken up these great poets.

They said that these poets were not associated with any court as they preferred to remain among the masses highlighting their issues, owing to which their poetry was popular, and its popularity was increasing with the passage of time.

They said that other such popular poets including Bullehy Shah, Waris Shah, Ghulam Farid, Sultan Bahu, Shah Hussain, from the Punjab; Habba Khatoon and Tahir Ghani Kashmiri from Kashmir, Khushhal Khan Khattak and Ghamza Khan Shinwari from NWFP, Bhartari Hari, Miran Bai, Sant Kabir, Tulsidas, Vidyapati, Abdur Rahim Khankhanan and Keshavdas from central India, besides Maharashtra's Namdev, Gujarat's Narsi Mehta; Bengal's Chetiam Mahaprabhu and Chandidas, highlighted the issues faced by their peoples, and preached messages of love and peace, due to which they were still very popular among the masses.

Dr Satish Rohar, Dr Nawaz Ali Shouq, V E Tharwani, Prof Nagpal, Tejal Bewas, Hari Motwani, Laxman Bhatia Komal, Anwer Pirzado, Dr Moti Prakash, M H Panhwar, Hiro Shewkani, Badar Abro, Hidayat Baloch, Gobind Khushalani and others read their papers on Shah, Sachal and Saami, at the conference conducted by Shamsher-ul-Haidery. A cultural evening was also organized for the visitors at the Arts Council of Pakistan that continued till the early hours of Monday.