MULTAN: Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi Saturday stressed the need to follow teachings of saints for promotion of peace, love and brotherhood.
He said this while addressing the inaugural session of the three-day Urs ceremonies of great Sufi saint Hazrat Bahauddin Zakariya here.
He urged the devotees to understand the message of the great saint and follow it for success in life and hereafter.
The foreign minister called upon the devotees to pray specially for Kashmiris, who were living in miserable conditions and facing brutalities at the hands of the Indian forces.
The foreign minister said that curfew in Kashmir had entered the third month of lockdown, adding that the people of held Valley had no access to hospitals, schools markets to get food and daily-use items.
He said that the Indian army was using pellet guns against the unarmed people and thousands of young men had been rendered blind there.
He prayed the Almighty to create ease of life for Kashmiris and end their sufferings.
Qureshi said that whole Pakistani nation was standing with their Kashmiri brethren and they would support them till freedom from the Indian occupation.
He also prayed for peace in Afghanistan adding that bloodshed had been continuing at the western border of Pakistan for the last 19 years.
He said that Pakistan, Turkey and Malaysia were going to launch an international English-language television channel which would counter the Islamophobia propaganda and convey the message of Sufi saints to the world.
Earlier, custodian of the shrine Shah Mehmood Qureshi gave traditional 'ghusal' to the shrine along with Punjab Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar to formally open the Urs celebrations.
Qureshi thanked Chief minister Sardar Usman Buzdar for participating in the Urs of Sufi saint. He said that the Punjab CM had approved sufficient funds for expansion of three shrines in Multan city including Hazrat Bahauddin Zakariya, Hazrat Shah Rukn-e-Alam and Bibi Pak Daman.
Dean Islamic Department, Government College University Lahore, Professor Dr Sultan Shah also paid rich tribute to Hazrat Bahauddin Zakariya on the occasion. He said that Hazrat Bahauddin Zakariya spent all his life while spreading the teachings of Islam.
Chief of Jamat Ahl-e-Sunnat Allama Hafiz Farooq Khan Saeedi, Pir Khalid Sultan Qadri and others also spoke.
MNAs Malik Aamir Dogar, Zain Qureshi, Ahmad Hussain Dehar, provincial minister for Auqaf Pir Syed Saeed-ul-Hassan, provincial minister for energy Dr Akhtar Malik, special assistant to CM Punjab Javed Akhtar Ansari, Zahoor Hussain Qureshi and others also attended the inaugural session.