Pak delegation to attend annual Urs in Ajmer

Ajmer: With a Pakistani delegation set to come to Ajmer to participate in the annual Urs of the dargah of Khwaja Moinuddin Chisty starting from January 8, intelligence agencies are adopting an extra degree of alertness.The delegation will reach after January 13 and stay in Ajmer for five days. Its members will offer prayers and an official ‘chaddar’ of the Pakistani government at the dargah. While there were 240 members in the Pakistani delegation for last year’s Urs, this time the number would be over 300, said sources.Pakistani delegations have been coming to Ajmer to attend the Urs for the last 50 years, except during the two Covid years and during tensions between India and Pakistan.Sources in Intelligence Bureau (IB) said the agency has been asked to make preparation for the delegation as it steps down a special train at Ajmer railway station and ensure its security. “We arrange not only security for them but keep vigilance on them, too,” he said.“There are times when the visit plans of Pakistani devotees get cancelled at the last minute because of bilateral relations between the two neighbouring nations, but we are always asked to prepare for their visit.” The Pakistani delegation will reach Ajmer by a special train through the Atari border. Security plans are being put in place in and around Ajmer railway station, and parts of the platform are being vacated. The entry of local people to those parts would be banned.The district administration makes arrangement to take the delegation from the railway station for their places of stay. For the last 50 years, Central Girls’ Government School at Naya Bazaar in Ajmer has been the place where the Pakistani delegation stays. The delegation is also taken to the dargah for prayers and then for shopping in the markets, all under the monitoring of IB, but they are bound by the rules to report to the place of residence at a specific time.