The festival is being held after a span of five years due to security concerns. The devotees welcomed the festival to celebratory tone with drums and traditional dhammal dance.
The shrine is also famed for the crocodiles in a nearby nursery, where the chief crocodile named Moor Sawab was given a bath and fed halwa sweetmeats and attar perfumes was applied on it.
SPP Mangophir Ghulam Hussain Korai inaugurated the festival which was attended by a large number of devotees. Social activist Abdul Shakoor Mengal, Sarwar Shah Akhunzada, head constable Muhammad Waheed Tanoli was also present on the occasion.
Manghopir police have made strict security arrangements and deployed extra police force around the shrine. The devotees and officials while expressing satisfaction with the security arrangements was overjoyed that the festival was being held after a span of five years.
They said that SSP Korai had displayed huge resilience by organising the festival in the face of terrorist threats, and had shown good governance over the years to cleanse the area of terrorists which had led to inaugurating the event.
The devotees credited the police and Rangers for holding the event, which has allowed them to carry their rituals and other activities. They paid tributes at the shrine of Sakhi Sultan Hassan. The festival will continue for three days.
