Daily Times

KARACHI: Large number of people including women and children, wearing Sindhi Topi (caps) and Ajraks thronged the streets in the provincial capital on Sunday to celebrate Sindhi Culture Day.

People, attired in special dresses were seen dancing on the rhythm of the drum and traditional folk songs in different public parks, roads, sea view beaches and even on top of buses. Many of them had decorated their cars and other vehicles with Ajrak and some of them had kept models of the Sindhi Topi.

The central gathering was held outside the Karachi Press Club, which was organized by Sindhi language private televisions including KTN News and Sindh TV. Residents of different colonies and from outskirts of the city reached KPC to participate in the celebrations.

Since 2009, people of Sindh are celebrating Cultural Day, when an anchorperson of a private television channel, Dr Shahid Masood criticized the then President of Pakistan, Asif Ali Zardari for wearing Sindhi Topi during his foreign trips.

Politicians, journalists, civil society activists, singers, students, nationalists all together participated in the central gathering and expressed their love for the province of Sindh, which they consider as their motherland and to celebrate the centuries old culture.

A stage was set in front of the KPC, where famous Sindhi singers presented traditional and folk Sindhi songs to praise the culture.

The speakers of the event said that Sindh has centuries’ old culture, which reflects the Sufism. The culture is powerful by the virtue of its own worthiness and by sanding together on the platform, we can fight extremism and terrorism, they added.

Celebration of the event has boosted the industry of the traditional items such as Sindhi Topi and Ajrak.

Khursheed Begum, a mother of five, who came along with her daughter from Korangi to participate in the celebrations, told Daily Times that she makes different traditional items such as Gajj, Topi, Arjaks and Sindhi embroideries for her living. Interestingly, both mother and daughter themselves were wearing these traditional clothes to mark the festivity.