Sehwan enlivens as devotees celebrate Urs of Shahbaz Qalandar

Sindh govt makes special security arrangements by deploying over 4,000 cops

HYDERABAD:

The small town of Sehwan was enlivened as tens of thousands of devotees of Hazrat Lal Shahbaz Qalandar (RA) bustled the town to celebrate the 771st Urs of the saint. The town morphed into a festive zone with men, women, children and elderly people enjoying the activities of their peculiar interests like makeshift fun lands, horse riding, cattle shows and literary activities besides the trance induced dhamal at the shrine.

The Governor of Sindh, Kamran Tessori inaugurated the three-day festivities on Saturday. He laid a chadar and offered Fateha at the resting place of 13th century saint, whose real name was Syed Muhammad Usman Marvandi. Lal, Shahbaz and Qalandar are his appellations referring to the colour of his apparel, his devotion symbolised by a falcon and the sufi order to which he belonged.

Read more: Security beefed up for Qalandar’s Urs

Speaking to the media after visiting the shrine the governor said, Sindh is the land of sufi saints who preached and embodied love, peace and harmony. They became epitomes of virtues and through their magnetic characters motivated the people towards the good besides connecting them with the Almighty.

"We pray for peace and prosperity in the country,” the governor said.

Meanwhile, in view of the recurrent incidents of terrorism, 4,000 policemen have been deployed in the town and in and out of the shrine. The people entered through gates and were also body searched before entering the shrine, which witnessed a bloody terrorist attack on February 16, 2017.

The movement of the public was also monitored with the help of the CCTV cameras in a control room set up within the shrine premises.

The police and the traffic police were deployed on the highway to regulate the traffic and to ban entry of the heavy transport vehicles to prevent accidents.

Some nine medical camps were set up by the health department and the non-governmental organisations in the town.

The district administration claimed that tens of thousands of bottled drinking water has been made available for free distribution among the devotees. The swimming in Arhal and Danister water channels was banned to prevent drowning incidents which often occur in summer during the Urs celebrations.

The events like cattle show, horse racing, traditional wrestling, agro and industrial exhibition, sughar kachehri, conference and musical nights feature the Urs festivities.

Stalls selling handicrafts and books at 40 to 50 per cent discount have also been set up.