Attack on Ajmer dargah admin: Centre steps in

Three days after the administrator,Ahmad Raza,of the Dargah Sharif in Ajmer was attacked,allegedly by a group of Khadims (caretakers),the Centre has taken...

Three days after the administrator,Ahmad Raza,of the Dargah Sharif in Ajmer was attacked,allegedly by a group of Khadims (caretakers),the Centre has taken up the issue with the Rajasthan Government and asked it to provide adequate security to Raza.

The Minority Affairs Ministry,which is empowered to oversee the functioning of the shrine under the Dargah Khwaja Saheb Act of 1955,is not taking the attack on Raza lightly. It is learnt that Minority Ministry Secretary Vivek Mehrotra has shot off a letter to the Chief Secretary of Rajasthan. The administrator is appointed by the Central government.

Sources said it has been made amply clear that the Centre was not happy with the incidents on July 20. It has also been pointed out that despite several requests the state had failed to provide adequate security.

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The state of affairs at the Hazrat Khwaja Mohinuddin Chishti Dargah has always been problematic to the Minority Affairs Ministry. A regular complaint has been that the powerful Khadims never allowed the Centre-appointed committee and administrator to function freely and often appropriated the offerings. An inquiry panel set up by the ministry in 2006 in the wake of allegations of corruption and mismanagement had also called for a complete revamp of the way the Dargah is run.

There are conflicting versions about the reasons for the attack on the administrator,incidentally a day after the committee elected a new president. Raza said the Khadims were aggrieved because he was moving forward to clear the encroachments put up by them and install security gadgets at the shrine.

On the other hand,the Khadims claimed that Raza had outraged their religious feelings by making insulting remarks about Sufi saint Khwaja Mohinuddin Chishti.