Daily Times

MITHI: Participants on the third day of the Thar and Nagar Festival organised by the Sindh Culture and Tourism Department urged the people of Thar to forge unity and communal harmony to cope with religious fanaticism.

Speaking on the occasion, Sindh Minister for Culture and Tourism said that the main motive of the festival was to promote culture and rich traditions of both Thar and Parkar regions. He said the Nagaparkar region produced the real hero of Sindh, Rooplo Kolhi, who had fought with his several community people against the invading British invaders and laid down his life valiantly.

The minister also lauded the services of the philanthropist Miskeen Jahan Khoso, the historian, Mangha Ram Oujha, who had authored very informative book on the history of Parkar region.

He urged writers and poets to write more books on the history of culturally and historically rich region, especially on the temples of Jains and Karoonjhar Hills. He said he was making sincere efforts to install chairlift facility at the Karoonjhar Hills to promote tourism in the region. For the implementation of the project, he said meetings were being held with the security forces and the top leadership of the Pakistan People’s Party.

He said that museums would be built at Mithi and Nagarparkar towns to attract visitors, and added that a tourist point would also be built at Sardharo temple at the hills so that tourists and visitors could learn more about the hilly areas of the Tharparkar district.

He said that since the hilly area of Thar region was one of the most beautiful places of the places so more projects would be carried out there to facilitate the visitors both local and foreigners.

Sardar again requested the people to raise their voice against the increasing influence of the banned religious organisations working in the region, and urged the people to inform him about the sites, where tourism points could be built by his department. Shah claimed both the events in Mithi and Nagaprkar remained successful and attracted loads of people from various parts of the country.

PPP MPA Dr Mehesh Kumar Malani was of the view that the festival was a great initiative to highlight various aspects of the region. He said that the Sindh government on the directives of PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto and Co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari was focusing on preservations of historical sites. He said that owing to huge coal reserves, Thar was getting importance across the world.

Several stalls of books, handicrafts and other products were also organised during the festival. Singers and TV artists entertained the visitors with their performances.

MPA Dost Mohammad Rahimoon, Dr Ghulam Haider Samejo, Shusheel Malani, Sardar Khan Khoso, Partab Shivani, Veerji Kolhi and Khalid Chachar were among those who visited the festival.