Zardari offers prayers at Dargah Sharif, announces $1 million donation

PTI

Ajmer, 08 Apr 2012: Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari today offered prayers at the historic 13th century dargah of sufi saint Khwaja Moinuddin Chisti in this pilgrim town after which a one million usd donation for the shrine was announced.

 

At the end of his visit to the shrine marked by tight security this evening, Zardari said he felt "a great spiritual happiness" after coming to this holy place which was "beyond description."

 

A one million usd donation(Rs five crore) for the welfare of the shrine was announced on behalf of Zardari by a member of his delegation, according to the Anjuman Committee’s vice president Syed Khalimuddin Chishti.

 

Clad in a blue shalwar kameez, 56-year-old Zardari, accompanied by his son Bilawal, Interior Minister Rehman Malik and members of his 44-member delegation, stayed inside the Sufi saint’s mausoleum for 20 minutes where he offered a 42-square metre long red ’chadar’ and floral tributes. Bilawal offered a green chadar. Chadar is a ceremonial cloth inscribed with religious verses.

 

A chadar was also offered by Union Minister Pawan Bansal on behalf of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Bansal, the minister-in-waiting for Zardari’s visit, prayed for peace and harmony.

 

"Is mukaddas mukam par akar mujhe jo ruhani khushi mehsus hui hai wo na kabi e bayan hai. Alla tala se dua hai ki wo tamam insaniyat ke liye asaniya paida kare. Amin"( I feel a great spritual happiness after coming to this holy place. It is beyond description. I pray to god to create favourable condition for the humanity. Amin," Zardari wrote in the visitors book.

 

Zardari performed ’fateha’ (supplication) and went around the premises comprising mosques, graves of the Khwaja’s disciples, a pool and two big cauldrons used for cooking food during the annual Urs. Pervez Musharraf and Zia-ul-Haq were the previous Pakistani Presidents to offer obeisance at the revered shrine.

 

The President landed at Ghugra helipad in Ajmer in a helicopter from Jaipur where a special aircraft carrying him and his delegation brought him from Delhi after a meeting with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who also hosted a lunch for him. The convoy then moved to the Dargah Sharif, 12.3 kms by road from the helipad.