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Pilgrims throng Ajmer shrine

PHOTO: PTI

from Pakistan: Pakistani delegation offering ’chaddar’ at the dargah of Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti in Ajmer on Monday.

JAIPUR: The 796th Urs of Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti, which started at the historic dargah in Ajmer this past Saturday, is attracting a huge turnout of pilgrims despite initial fears in the wake of a bomb explosion at the Sufi shrine in October last year and the serial blasts in Jaipur in May this year.

The weeklong Urs is witnessing the arrival of thousands of devotees from all parts of the country. A contingent of 458 pilgrims from Pakistan reached the town on Sunday and visited the dargah on Monday to pay obeisance at the Sufi saint’s mausoleum.

The “Jannati Darwaza” (gateway to heaven) in the shrine has been opened for the pilgrims who will pass through it till the conclusion of the festival. The district administration has set up temporary shelters and makeshift structures for the devotees. Bajrang Dal activists attacked one of the shelters during the bandh over the Amarnath shrine land issue.

Chadars were offered at the Khwaja’s grave on behalf of several political leaders on Monday. The Pakistani group, led by former judge Saghir Ahmed Qadri, also laid a velvet chadar at the tomb.

Police have introduced a four-tier security system in and around the dargah and erected barricades, besides fitting closed-circuit television cameras at important locations in the congested area. Each devotee entering the shrine is frisked and checked and the baggage scanned.

According to police sources, special emphasis has been laid on gathering intelligence, while all shops and by-lanes in a two-km radius around the dargah have been put under surveillance to prevent terrorist attacks.

With the pilgrims praying that the Urs passes off peacefully, traditional rituals such as recitation of the holy Quran, distribution of langar, and rendition of qawwalis and speeches highlighting the teachings of the saint are in progress on the sprawling dargah premises. The State Government’s Health Department has set up 11 temporary dispensaries at places such as bus stand, railway station, dargah bazaar, Moti Katla, Taragarh and Dhai Din Ka Jhonpra for pilgrims.

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Pilgrims throng Ajmer shrine

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