MULTAN, March 6: The three-day celebrations of 766th Urs of Hazrat Bahauddin Zakariya Soharwardi Multani began here on Monday with the Ghusl of the shrine. Sajjada Nasheen Makhdoom Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Mureed Husain Qureshi, Pir Shujat Husnain Qureshi and Makhdoom Wajahat Husain Gilani jointly performed the ceremony and laid a Chaddar on the grave of the saint.

Makhdoom Shah Mahmood Qureshi thanked devotees (Zaireen), particularly those who came from Bagh Meer district of Rajasthan, India, after opening of the routes between the two countries. He promised that he would take a delegation of ulema and devotees to Rajasthan and would pay a visit to Ajmer Sharif next year.

He announced that a Shaan-i-Risalat convention would be held at the shrine to counter publication of blasphemous sketches in western newspapers on Tuesday.

A Zakariya seminar would also be held on March 14 at Bahauddin Zakariya University. Noted intellectual Dr Ghazanfar Mehdi, Multan MMA president Mufti Hidayatullah Pasroori, Prof Karim Malik, Allama Abdul Waheed Rabbani and Auqaf regional khateeb Ghulam Farid paid rich tributes to Hazrat Bahauddin Zakariya.

They said terrorism can be defeated by following the teachings of saints.—APP