Ajmer dargah gets Zardari's $1 million

Ajmer, August 18: It was a thriller till the end. The long-awaited distribution of the promised $1 million to the dargah of Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti by Pakistan president Asif Ali Zardari finally came to fruition on Friday but not without its share of drama.

A long three-hour-long, marathon closed-door meeting between delegates from the Pakistan high commission, members of Anjuman Syed Zadgan, members of Anjuman Yadgar and those of the Dargah Committee resolved what an elaborate ceremony planned earlier in the evening could not.

Now, Rs 3 crore will be given to the Anjuman Syed Zadgan, Rs 1 crore to the Anjuman Yadgar, and Rs 1 crore 47,48,905 to the Dargah committee.

"I am happy that the matter has been finally resolved," said a much relived Pakistan High Commissioner Salman Bashir.

"We talked in detail and reached a conclusion," said Syed Wahid Angara, secretary of Anjuman Syed Zadgan.

Closed-door meeting breaks dargah deadlock

But when officials from high commission disclosed that if the money is not delivered this time then the budget will lapse and it will be difficult to pass another budget for the announcement of President Zardari, matters began to be resolved.

The Anjuman Syed Zadgan, an organization of khadims (priests) of the Dargah, has been at logger heads with the Dargah committee, constituted by ministry of minority affairs, on who is the rightful owner of the money.

Earlier, the Anjuman was to be given Rs 1.5 crore as proposed by the delegation of the Pakistan embassy while the rest was to go to the Dargah committee. "The money that was announced by the Pakistan president is for the Anjuman and no distribution is acceptable," said Syed Wahid Angara, secretary of Anjuman during the ceremony. He had said that as per the ritual of the Dargah, the money which is given as Nazarana (gift) goes only to Khadim or to Anjuman committee.

But as the Anjuman stood up to quit the meeting Pakistan high commissioner Bashir took the hand of Wahid and requested them to discuss the issue. District collector Vebhav Galaria then proposed a closed-door meeting between the Pakistan delegation, Anjuman and members of the Dargah Committee.

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In meeting with Zohran Mamdani, Trump repeats claim he stopped India-Pak war

Agencies

November 22,2025

New York/Washington: US President Donald Trump has again claimed to have solved the conflict between India and Pakistan, repeating his assertion during a meeting with New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani in the Oval Office.

Mamdani flew to Washington DC for his first meeting with Trump in the White House on Friday. Trump said he “enjoyed” the meeting, which he described as “great.”

During remarks in the Oval Office, with Mamdani standing next to him, Trump repeated his claim that he solved the May conflict between India and Pakistan.

"I did eight peace deals of countries, including India and Pakistan,” he said.

On Wednesday, Trump had said he threatened to put 350 per cent tariffs on India and Pakistan if they did not end their conflict, repeating his claim that he solved the fighting between the nuclear-armed neighbours and that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had called him to say “we're not going to go to war.”

Since May 10, when Trump announced on social media that India and Pakistan had agreed to a “full and immediate” ceasefire after a “long night” of talks mediated by Washington, he has repeated his claim over 60 times that he “helped settle” the tensions between India and Pakistan.

India has consistently denied any third-party intervention. India launched Operation Sindoor on May 7, targeting terror infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir in retaliation for the April 22 Pahalgam attack that killed 26 civilians. India and Pakistan reached an understanding on May 10 to end the conflict after four days of intense cross-border drone and missile strikes.

Mamdani emerged victorious in the closely-watched battle for New York City Mayor, becoming the first South Asian and Muslim to be elected to sit at the helm of the largest city in the US.

He had been the front-runner in the NYC Mayoral election for months and defeated Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa and political heavyweight former New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo, who ran as an independent candidate and was officially endorsed by Trump just hours before the elections.

Indian-descent Mamdani is the son of renowned filmmaker Mira Nair and Columbia University professor Mahmood Mamdani. He was born and raised in Kampala, Uganda and moved to New York City with his family when he was 7. Mamdani became a naturalised US citizen only recently, in 2018.

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