Pakistan’s Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf will on Saturday visit the world-famous shrine of Sufi saint Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti in Ajmer.
On Friday, a prominent shrine official decided to boycott Ashraf’s visit to protest the January 2013 beheading of two Indian soldiers along the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir.
“I have decided to boycott him when he comes here along with his family to perform prayers. I have not even asked for the pass to be in the dargah premises when the prime minister reaches here,” Diwan Sayed Zainul Abedin Ali Khan had said in a statement.
The diwan is the first person to welcome the head of other nations on the main Nizam gate as they arrive at the shrine.
The diwan said his boycott is in protest of the inhuman acts of beheading of Indian soldiers and also atrocities on minorities in Pakistan, which, he said, is against the teaching of Islam.
The diwan further said he has not done the paper work to organise passes for his family.
On the other hand, the shrine’s Anjuman committee has decided to welcome Ashraf.
Meanwhile, External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid, who will host lunch for the Pakistani Prime Minister at the Rambagh Palace in Jaipur, said that he looks forward to the visit to Pakistan Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf.
The Pakistani PM will then meet Khurshid over lunch before flying to Ajmer in a helicopter. He will return to Jaipur in the evening on his way back to Pakistan.