Hundreds of devotees from all over the country have reached Bhitshah Town to pay homage to the great poet and saint, Shah Abdul Latif Bhitai (RA) , as three-day celebrations of his 269th Urs began on Friday. Temporary stalls selling handicrafts, dried fruit and ready-made garments have been set up at Bhit Shah. The shopkeepers in the markets too were seen putting on new coats of paint to their shops, restaurants and hotels as the people start filtering in.
According to the members of the organising committee, more than 0.6 million people are expected to attend the three-day celebrations. Different events including Malakhra (traditional wrestling) matches, cattle shows, traditional intellectual sittings and bonfires, cattle shows, an agro-industrial exhibition and musical concerts have been organized.
Tight security arrangements have been made with deployment of heavy contingent of policemen in Bhitshah besides installing walk-through gates at the mausoleum, Bhitshah Auditorium and Bhitshah Excellence Centre. Closed-circuits cameras and metal detectors have also been installed.
Shah Abdul Latif Bhittai (RA) was born in 1689 in Hala Haveli's village Sui-Qandar located near Hyderabad. He was son of Syed Habibullah and grandson of Syed Abdul Quddus Shah. Shah Abdul Latif was a Sindhi Sufi scholar, mystic, saint, poet, and musician. He is widely considered to be one of the greatest poets of the Sindhi language. His collected poems were assembled in the compilation Shah Jo Risalo, which exists in numerous versions and has been translated to English, Urdu, and other languages.