To Deal With The Crisis

By Jan Khaskheli, *Govt plans to engage shrines in fight against extremism* - The News International - Karachi, Pakistan; Friday, March 25, 2011

The government in Sindh has adopted a strategy to convince the caretakers of the shrines of Sufi saints to help stop the fresh wave of extremism in the province, believing they (caretakers) have influence over 85 percent of the population and may play a key role in helping the government to deal with the crisis.

These views were expressed by Senior Minister Pir Mazharul Haq on the occasion of the Sakhi Lal Shahbaz Qalandar Sufi Conference held at an auditorium in Sehwan.

The conference was organised by the Jamshoro district government and Jamaat Saleheen, Gulistan Bahu Welfare Trust International, Punjab.

The Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) would follow the Sufi’s discourse to stop the wave of extremism in Sindh, he added.

Mazhar announced organising international Sufi conferences annually at Sehwan to promote Sufism. Ministers from Sindh and Balochistan, including Syed Murad Ali Shah, Ayaz Soomro, Taj Haider, Sadiq Umrani and Ali Madad Jotak, as well as PPP leaders, writers and caretakers of shrines of Sufi saints hailing from Sindh, Punjab and Balochistan attended the conference.

Backing the idea floated by Sakhi Khalid Sultan Al-Qadri, caretaker of Shaikh Sultan Bahu, Mazhar said the government would organise such gatherings in all parts of the province to promote peace, tolerance and harmony. “People of Sindh for long have been the followers of Sufi saints. They do not believe in hatred and extremism. The PPP is the party of Sufis and we will establish the centre of Sufis at the shrine of Qalandar Lal Shahbaz in Sehwan.”

The senior minister stated that the PPP had come to power because it had the blessing of Sufi saints and would face all the visible challenges with their help. He said that the Sindh government would discuss the idea of forming a Sufi council, a separate forum to organise Sufis by establishing its offices at local, district and provincial levels to promote Sufism in order to counter the wave of extremism.

He said Sufi scholars would be invited from all over the world to guild the people in Pakistan, who, he said, were being misguided by certain elements.

Sakhi Khalid Sultan, who was presiding over the event, said that they had come there to promote peaceful ideas among the people. He appealed to the participants to spread the message of tolerance and peace in society.

“We are not from ‘barud walas’ (bombers), but of ‘Darud walas’. Faqirs (saints) are not bombers but preachers of peace and harmony,” he said, adding that the Sufi saints spread the message of love and fought evil forces.

“People want to live peacefully and do not believe in extremism.” Sultan condemned elements targeting shrines in the country, and vowed to fight these subversive elements by spreading the teachings of Sufi saints.

Minister Sadiq Umrani from Balochistan said that their party had always served Sufi saints. He appealed to the followers of Sufi saints to come together to fight evils destabilising the nation and bringing a bad name to the country.

Faqir Aijaz Ali, a Sufi scholar and organiser of the conference, said that Sufis always preached the message of peace. They had always worked for the unity among humanity. This conference aimed to see the land of Sindh like it was in the past, he added.

At the end, folksingers sang songs of Shah Abdul Latif Bhitai, Sachal Sarmast, Budhal Faqir, Shaikh Sultan Bahu, Baba Farid and other Sufi saints, leaving the audience spellbound.