Zardari's donation to Ajmer shrine sets off unending dispute: Report

The organisations handling the shrine's management are undergoing differences over the entitlement of the donation.

The Rs50 million donation made by President Asif Ali Zardari during his visit to the shrine of Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti in Ajmer sprouted a dispute between two organisations handling the management of the shrine that still remains unresolved, a report by BBC Urdu stated Tuesday.

The organisations are undergoing differences over the entitlement of the donation.

Zardari had made the donation for the upkeep of the shrine of the revered Muslim Sufi saint. He had visited the shrine after his luncheon meeting with Indian Premier Manmohan Singh.

A few days back, a senior official of the Pakistani High Commission in India visited Ajmer to resolve the dispute and met with the management. The meeting, however, did not yield any outcome and the matter remained unsettled.

The official, Abrar Ahmed, met with officials of the shrine committee and the association representing the servants, and indicated that the amount will be given at a ceremony on August 18.

President of Syed Zadgan Association Hassamuddin said that traditionally, all the grants come to the organisation and that if their rights are violated, the association will reconsider attending the ceremony.

But the shrine committee’s head Sohail Khan said that not only the committees' act, but the Supreme Court supports their stance. Khan stated that he had forwarded a copy of the act and the Supreme Court’s verdict to the Pakistani High Commission.

He also revealed that the committee had forwarded the projects they had devised for the shrine’s facelift and that if they get the amount, they will spend it on the purpose.

However, interestingly, Zardari’s attendant in the shrine, Iqbal Kaptaan said that he supports the association because, he said, donations are the association’s right.