KARACHI: Acting Governor Sindh Agha Siraj Khan Durrani Wednesday inaugurated 1292nd Urs of holy saint Hazrat Abdullah Shah Ghazi in Karachi amid present of thousands of followers.
Special Assistant to Chief Minister Sindh on Auqaf Syed Ahmed Raza Shah Jilani, Secretary Auqaf Javed Sijatullah, Chief Administrator Auqaf Abdul Ghani Mehar and other officers were also present on the occasion.
The acting governor Sindh laid flowerers on the Dargah and prayed for the progress and prosperity of the country and the nation. He also distributed cloths amongst deserving women on the occasion.
It is pertinent to mention that three day Urs celebrations would continue till July 22, during which Mehfil-e-Naat and Mehfil-e-Samaa would be held. After inaugurating the Urs, Durrani told media that Sindh is the land of Sufis and Saints who always preached love, harmony and brotherhood to their followers. “Their selfless efforts were the main reason of spreading of Islam in sub-continent, specially in Sindh,” he said.
The acting governor stated said that people hailing from various nationalities and linguistic groups are living in peace and harmony in Sindh for years. “Some miscreants recently tried to pitch brothers against each other by hatching conspiracy to divide them on linguistic basis, he added, and said that masses living in the province foiled their nefarious designs by rejecting them with their unity.
He said that those elements would never succeed in sowing seed of hatred in the soil of Sindh and all such attempts would go in vain as people of Sindh were well aware of their ill wills.
Replaying to a question, Durrani said that murder of any human being is condemnable act, while destroying private property of anyone is equally shameful. Recent incident in Hyderabad was very deplorable and unfortunate while reaction to this incident was also uncalled for, he observed.
He said that adequate security arrangements had been made for Urs celebrations for devotees coming from each and every part of the country. President Zardari has contributed a lot for providing facilities to devotees at the Mazaar and he appealed to him and chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari for installation of an escalator especially for the aged devotees.
He said that Shaheed Benazir Bhutto always advised him to visit shrines and dargahs and pray for the solidarity and prosperity of the country and whenever he feel the need he visits shrines all over Sindh and pray as she had directed, Durrani added.
To a question regarding situation after recent rains, the acting governor Sindh said that the main reason of stagnant rain water was encroachments. There were still pockets of encroachments on drains, which are obstructing flow of the rain water, he opined.
Replying to another question regarding local body polls, he said that the government was ready to hold local government polls. These have been held in four divisions while the same would be conducted in the Karachi and Hyderabad divisions on 24th July, he concluded.