Peace festival held to recognize common threads of both Punjabs

An annual peace festival ‘Saanjh’ was organised on Sunday night at the courtyard of Spring Dale Senior Secondary School here to recognise common threads of Punjabs on both sides of the international

AMRITSAR: An annual peace festival ‘Saanjh’ was organised on Sunday night at the courtyard of Spring Dale Senior Secondary School here to recognise common threads of Punjabs on both sides of the international border.

Once again, no Pakistani artist could perform at the festival due to visa restrictions imposed by the government. (Representational photo)

Once again, no Pakistani artist could perform at the festival due to visa restrictions imposed by the government. The festival was started by the late Manveen Sandhu and the late Faizan Peerzada in 2004.

Attended by a galaxy of prominent citizens, bureaucrats, heritage lovers and people from all walks of life, ‘Saanjh’ presented musical performances by Khete Khan’s Manganiyar Lok Sangeet Sansthan, an NGO registered in Hamira, Jaisalmer and Lakhwinder Wadali. The musical night got an overwhelming response from the enthusiastic audience of Amritsar and the surrounding areas.

“Such events need to be organised to strengthen ties and brotherhood between people of both Punjabs, which were divided by 1947 partition,” said Dr Inderbir Singh Nijjar, Punjab local bodies minister, who turned chief guest in the event.

“The aim of Saanjh is to recognise common threads that run through all of us by presenting the best of our musical and art heritage from both sides of the border for the promotion of peace in the region,” said Kirat Sandhu Cheema, director, Spring Dale Educational Society, which organized this event.

She further elaborated that due to administrative reasons artists from Pakistan could not participate this time as was the original format of the festival, but the musical renditions from beyond the border included lyrics and compositions which are commonly sung in both countries.

Sahiljit Singh Sandhu, chairman of the society, said, “Saanjh festival has over the years seen performances of artists from both the countries like Arif Lohar, Sai Zahoor, Harbhajan Mann, Wadali Brothers, Bharti Swami, Tina Sani, and a host of prominent names in the field of music”.

OP Soni, former deputy CM of Punjab, Anil Joshi, former cabinet minister, of Punjab, Fatehjung Singh Bajwa, former MLA and senior leader of BJP were also present on the occasion.