Naqvi addresses Ajmer Dargah controversy

The Dewan has assured the Ministry of Minority Affairs that he will not take decisions on his own.

 

Intervening in the controversy that has gripped the Ajmer Sharif Dargah over the last two weeks, the Ministry of Minority Affairs has issued an advisory to the Dargah Dewan Zainul Abedin for violating the Dargah Act by announcing his son as the Sajjadanashin (heir). A delegation of the dargah committee came here earlier this week to meet Minister of Minority Affairs, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, after the ministry took cognisance of the complaints filed by Dewan as well as the Anjuman, accusing each other of breaking the sanctity of the Dargah Act.

Speaking to The Sunday Guardian, Naqvi said, “Yes, I have met some people from the Dargah over the issue of announcing the heir.

The discussions took place and the Dewan has been asked to abstain from such activities in the future. We have issued an advisory and told him that his actions were not sanctioned.”

Refusing to divulge further details, Naqvi said that the issue of announcing the heir by overlooking the law is resolved now and there is nothing more to it; besides that, the Dewan has been told of the Ministry’s displeasure at such fringe acts.

Speaking to The Sunday Guardian, Azizuddin Chishty, Joint Secretary, Shaikh Anjuman, said, “The Dewan has assured the Ministry of Minority Affairs that he will not supercede the Dargah Committee and take decisions on his own.

He has assured that he will not repeat such a mistake and apologised. There are no differences between the Anjuman and the Dewan anymore as he now understands that violation of the Dargah Act is wrong.”

The delegation included both the Anjumans of the dargah, namely, Anjuman-I-Syed-Zaadgaan and Anjuman-I-Shaikh-Zaadgaan. The president, vice president, secretary and joint secretary of both the Anjumans, along with Imtiyaz B. Peerzada, Nazim Dargah Khwaja Saheb (DKS) Ajmer Sharief, met with Naqvi earlier this week. The Anjumans were called by Naqvi after he had received the written complaints.

The Ajmer Dargah witnessed a confrontation between the Dewan and the Anjuman—a collective group of Dargah caretakers comprising of Khadims and Gaddinashins of the dargah—when the incumbent Dewan Abedin announced his son as the heir apparent or the Sajjadanashin and allowed him to participate in the Ghusel ceremony at the 806th Urs of Khwaja Nawaz.

The Ghusel ceremony is supposed to be performed only by the Dewan and is attended by the Gaddhinashins (there are total nine of them) and the Dargah Commitee. Following this, the Khadims barred the Dewan from entering the Dargah premises and filed a complaint against him with the CEO of the Dargah Committee.

The Dewan, too, filed a complaint against the member of the Anjuman for “violating” his rights. Since the Dargah Commitee is nominated by the Ministry of Minority Affairs, most of the committee’s crucial decisions are said to be also approved by the ministry.

Chishty said, “Whatever has happened in the Dargah in the last couple of days has been unfortunate. The Dewan is not expected to violate the Dargah rules. But since he apologised, we intend to turn a new leaf.”