Public holiday suggested on Rahman Baba anniversary

TANK: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Fata chief organiser Dost Mohammad Mahsud has demanded the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government to declare holiday in the province on the death anniversary of the great Pashto Sufi poet Rahman Baba.

Talking to reporters here, he said the Pakhtuns were passing through a critical time due to extremism and militancy after the so-called Afghan war.

The PTI leader lamented that under a deliberate plan, the Sufi brand of Islam was specifically targetted.

“The tragic bombing of Rahman Baba’s shrine and tombs of other revered saints failed to deter the Pakhtuns’ unflinching faith in them. We demand of the Auqaf Department to devise a comprehensive strategy to properly look after the affairs of the shrines, mausoleums and tombs of sufi saints across the province by carrying out its preservation and renovation with a view to facilitate the devotees,” Dost Mohammad Mahsud asked the government.

He emphasised the need to properly launch a media campaign to attract devotees and visitors from across the world with a view to generate and propagate religious tourism. 

Dost Mohammad Mahsud stressed the dire need for including the teaching of sufi saints in the curriculum to inculcate the traits of humility, brotherhood and sacrifice among the new generation which, he said was, groping in the dark.