Pakistan Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf on Saturday spent 35 minutes at the historic shrine of the mystic saint Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti in Ajmer and offered prayers amid protest and boycott by the spiritual head of the shrine. The police resorted to mild lathicharge to disperse the protesters and changed the route.
The Khadims said Mr Ashraf offered a 42 meter multi- coloured velvet chadar with flowers at the Dargah. The Pakistani PM later left for Islamabad by a special plane.
India’s external affairs minister Salman Khurshid hosted a lunch at the Rambagh hotel in Jaipur for the visiting Pakistani PM. Though Mr Khurshid said since it was a private visit no issues like terrorism were discussed. Mr Ashraf’s visit was marked by protests by BJP workers, Shiv Sena, traders and lawyers in Ajmer, while in Jaipur a local outfit Karni Sena protested against what they said was the beheading of Indian soldiers at the line of control.
Though the Anjuman, the body of Khadims and Dargah Committee accorded him a traditional welcome when he reached at the shrine and performed “Dastarbandi”, the spiritual head of the shrine Zainual Abedin boycotted his visit as a mark of protest. It was my protest against Pakistani troops beheading the Indian soldiers, he said. But the Anjuman members said the place is marked for peace and harmony and there was no bar for any devotee.
‘How can one oppose a devotee in offering prayers because it is a shrine open for any one from any place across the world, says Anjuman secretary Wahid Hussain Chishti. According to the Khadims, Mr Ashraf, clad in a cream colour sherwani and a white round cap, offered prayers for peace and harmony in the world and made a prayer for prosperity in his country. He also made his observations in the visitors’ book of the Anjuman. According to the Anjuman officials, he wrote in the book that he and his family were fortunate to get an opportunity to visit the Dargah and offer the prayers. The Khadim Bilal Chishti as the family Khadim helped in performing the Ziyarat. Accompanied by his wife Nusrat and other family members, Mr Ashraf was welcomed by management of the Dargah. The police rounded up over a dozen BJP and Shiv Sena workers when they tried to protest the PM’s visit.