Pilgrim donates $1 million to Khwaja Moninuddin Chisti in Ajmer

AJMER/NEW DELHI: Pakistan president Asif Ali Zardari on Sunday offered prayers at the shrine of sufi saint Khwaja Moninuddin Chisti in Ajmer and donated $1 million for the 13th century place of worship.

Wearing traditional attire, the Pakistan president along with his 23-year-old son Bilawal Bhutto, spent around 20 minutes in the shrine during the visit amid tight security in the city. Zardari said he experienced incomprehensible spiritual happiness and prayed for all humanity.

"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 (the spiritual happiness that I have experienced at this holy place cannot be described. I pray to Allah to make life easy for the entire humanity)," Zardari wrote in the visitors' book.

The donation for the shrine was announced by a member of his delegation, according to the Anjuman Committee's vice president Syed Khalimuddin Chishti. Zardari offered flowers and a 42-square metre long red chaadar, a ceremonial cloth inscribed with religious verses, while Bilawal gave a green one. Interior minister Rehman Malik and members of the 44-member Pakistani delegation were also there.

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