MULTAN:
A two-day South Punjab Literary and Cultural Festival (SPLCF) featuring dialogue, Mushaira, handicraft exhibition and music evening opened on Friday.
The festival began with a spring flower show at the Qasim Bagh Fort.
The Additional Chief Secretary of South Punjab, Saqib Zafar, while addressing the opening ceremony at the Arts Council, said that South Punjab was a very fertile land enriched with art, literature and culture, and the main purpose of organising the SPLCF was to promote literature and culture of this region.
The official said that the South Punjab Secretariat had achieved many milestones of success in different sectors.
Besides renowned writers, poets and intellectuals, a large number of people attended the opening ceremony.
The Secretary of Higher Education of South Punjab, Altaf Baloch, administrative secretaries of other departments of South Punjab, Additional Secretaries Atta-ul-Haq and Mohammad Farooq Dogar were also present on this occasion.
The additional chief secretary said enhancing the literacy rate and eradicating poverty in the region was their top priority, and this journey of progress, development and planning would yield positive results in the next few years.
He thanked the Secretary of Higher Education, Altaf Baloch, and paid tribute to the entire team of the South Punjab Secretariat for making the event a success.
In his address, the ACS said the people associated with the literature and culture of this region had their own identity in the world, while the shrines of Multan, the Koh-e-Suleman of DG Khan and Cholistan of Bahawalpur had had a very rich tradition, history and culture.
Altaf Baloch said that fairs were a reflection of the civilization and culture of any society.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 18th, 2023.
