Daily Times

Makhdoom Shah Mehmood Qureshi visited at the shrine of Hazrat Shah Rukn-e-Alam on Wednesday and inaugurated the 706th annual urs of the great Sufi saint.

The three-day urs of the revered Sufi saint started today and will continue upto January 3. Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, who is spiritual seat holder of the shrine, opened the Urs celebrations with performing shower at the Mazar with rosewater. Later, he addressed a gathering of the devotees of the Sufi shrine. On third days a conference will be held to be addressed by prominent scholars and the Urs will end with concluding prayers.

The local authorities have stepped up security for the urs, which attended by large number of people from various parts of the country.

According to officials the annual urs attracts over 100,000 devotees of the shrine mostly from Sindh and southern districts of Punjab. Hazarat Shah Rukn-ud-din Alam Abul Fateh, commonly known as Shah Rukn-e-Alam Suhrawadi, was the grandson of Hazrat Ghous Bahauddin Zakariya. His forefathers had arrived from the holy city of Makkah to Multan.