Pakistani pilgrims offer chadar at Ajmer dargah during Urs

Pakistani devotees arrive to offer a ‘chadar’ at the shrine of Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti during the Urs, in Ajmer, Wednesday, Jan. 17, 2024.
| Photo Credit: PTI

A delegation of pilgrims from Pakistan offered the traditional chadar (sacred cloth) at the historic dargah of Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti in Ajmer during the 812th ‘Urs’ on Wednesday. The 230-member delegation had arrived in the city by a special train from Amritsar earlier this week after crossing the Attari-Wagah border.

Pakistan High Commission’s charge d’affaires Aizaz Khan placed the chadar at the tomb of the Sufi saint and paid obeisance on behalf of the Pakistan government. The delegation members offered special prayers for the progress and prosperity of their country and also supplicated for cordial relations between India and Pakistan.

Syed Bilal Chishti and other prominent members of the Anjuman Moinia Fakhria Chishtia Khuddam Khwaja Saheb – a representative body of khadims (custodians) at the dargah – received the Pakistani devotees inside the 13th century shrine. The khadims performed ‘dastarbandi’ of Mr. Khan and other representatives of the pilgrims.

‘Dastarbandi’ is a ceremonial practice involving the tying of a turban on the head, symbolising respect, and honour of the visitor to the dargah. A communique from the Pakistan High Commission said the pilgrims attend the annual ‘Urs’ at the Ajmer dargah under the framework of the 1974 India-Pakistan protocol on visits to religious shrines.

The Pakistani pilgrims, staying at the Government Central Girls’ Senior Secondary School at Naya Bazaar in the city, reached the dargah under strict security arrangements. The intelligence agencies kept a watch on the devotees, who were allowed to move around only within the Municipal Corporation’s limits, as per the visa rules. The delegation will leave Ajmer on January 21.

Mr. Khan expressed gratitude to the dargah management and the local administration for facilitating the visit. The delegation of Pakistani pilgrims has been coming to Ajmer every year, though there was a year’s gap during the COVID-19 pandemic. Earlier, India had not granted visas to the Pakistani devotees in 2018 and 2019 amid tensions between the two countries.

Managing the Pakistani delegation has posed a challenge to the security and intelligence agencies during the past few years, as several pilgrims left Ajmer without informing the authorities and many of them visited the nearby Pushkar town, famous for its Brahma temple, without visa.