Jhang Thal Rally Concludes as Sultan Khalid Hameed Wins the Desert Category, With Tributes to Paraglider Qazi Zafar Khan

Toba Tek Singh: The Jhang Thal rally, the district’s first desert jeep rally, crossed its finish line on Sunday. Sultan Khalid Hameed Khan won the desert category, covering the 78-kilometre track in 51 minutes and 25 seconds. The experienced Mir Nadir Magsi came second, Jeyand Hoth third and Sahibzada Sultan Muhammad Ali fourth.

Prepared category and the rest of the results

In the prepared category, Mian Rafiq took first place, Arbaz Khan second and Irfan Mian third; the women’s contest was still under way when the results were reported. District Information Officer Riaz Marth said the rally was staged with private sponsors and had drawn appreciation from provincial government authorities. Run alongside a three-day cultural festival in the Thal, the event was meant to put Jhang’s desert, culture and tourist sites in front of a much wider audience.

A victory shadowed by a paraglider’s sacrifice

The celebrations carried the weight of Saturday’s accident. Renowned paraglider Qazi Zafar Khan died after his glider caught fire shortly after take-off during the festival. Mr Marth, paying tribute, said Mr Khan had “courageously thrown down a 14-year-old child to save his life” but could not free himself from his belts, suffering critical burns from which he later died. Mr Khan was an experienced pilot holding a Civil Aviation Authority licence, and officers at the festival had flown with him themselves. The district administration sent his body to his home in Peshawar on Saturday night; the injured child was referred from Jhang’s District Headquarters Hospital to Allied Hospital in Faisalabad.