Date:05/01/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/01/05/stories/2008010561491000.htm

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Focus on Ajmer Dargah’s security, connectivity

Special Correspondent

Photo: S.R. Raghunathan

new role: Tamil Nadu Governor Surjit Singh Barnala greets the Prince of Arcot Nawab Mohammed Abdul Ali, at a function in Chennai on Friday. —

CHENNAI: In his relatively new role as president of the Ajmer Dargah management committee, the Prince of Arcot Nawab Mohammed Abdul Ali intends to prioritise security, connectivity and better management of resources at Ajmer’s famed symbol of communal harmony.

Some of the proposals the Nawab is mulling include setting up a university on one of the several lands belonging to the Dargah and persuading the Centre to set up an airport in Ajmer. “I have already written to the Civil Aviation Ministry highlighting the need for an airport at Ajmer,” Nawab Abdul Ali told journalists after a felicitation organised in his honour by the Tamil Nadu Shia Muslim Convention.

The Nawab is the first person from South India to be appointed president of the Ajmer Dargah management committee, a statutory body of the Government of India.

“It is an honour and at the same time a great responsibility,” the Nawab said of his Ajmer assignment. Governor Surjit Singh Barnala, who was the chief guest, called for upholding religious tolerance and communal harmony and leaving no room for disruptive forces.

N. Ram, Editor-in-Chief, The Hindu, said the Nawab upheld the core values in personal and public life that were a hallmark of the Arcot Nawabs’ legacy of upholding secularism and pluralism in society.

Though a non-political personality, the Nawab was not one to shirk from confronting a threat to communal harmony as he had shown during the communal riots in Chennai a few years ago, Mr. Ram said.

Replying to the felicitations, the Nawab appealed to all religious sects to eschew fanaticism.

Mufti Khazi Salahuddin Mohammed Ayub, chief Khazi Sunni, and Moulana Gulam Mohammed Mehdi Khan, chief Khazi Shia, Government of Tamil Nadu, felicitated Mr. Ali.

Najaf Ali Mirza, Syed Imtiaz Ali Sahib and Asgar Ali Dhala Sahib spoke.