Clash at Ajmer dargah leaves 2 injured, shows security chinks

The family members of two prominent 'khadims' (priests) armed with sharp-edged weapons clashed on the Ajmer dargah premises on the last day of Urs festival yesterday, leaving two persons critically injured and raising questions about security in the popular shrine.
A minor argument between the sons of the two 'khadims' inside 'aastana' (sanctum sanctorum) took an ugly turn outside the shrine when members of both the families armed with sharp-edged weapons clashed, police said today.
There is an old enmity between the families of Wahid Angara and Tariq Chisti. Yesterday, a minor argument occurred between Angara's nephew Bilal and Chisti's son Shahnawaz inside the shrine.

"When both came outside the 'aastana', Shahnawaz beat Bilal. Within minutes, family members and relatives of Angara caught Shahnawaz and his brother Wasim and thrashed them badly. Sharp-edged weapons were used in the clash," Ajmer SP Mahendra Singh said today.
Singh said members of both the sides levelled allegations against each other of opening fire, but incident of firing could not be confirmed.
Both the critically injured are being treated. Both the sides have lodged separate FIRs against each other and three accused -- identified as Danial, Javwad and Humshad -- were arrested today under IPC section 307 (attempt to murder) in connection with the attack on Shahnawaz and Wasim.

On a question how the security personnel deployed in the dargah during the annual festival of Urs failed to check entry of the weapons into the premises, the SP said that it was a matter of investigation to ascertain whether the weapons were taken inside yesterday only or they had been already there.

"Khadims are part of the dargah system. They have their own sitting places on the premises and personal almirah too. It is possible that the weapons were already with them and were not brought from outside. We are probing this," he said.
Meanwhile, dewan of Ajmer dargah Zainul Abedin Ali Khan has requested the Centre to deploy CISF personnels in the shrine. "This is an international place where large number of devotees irrespective of their religion visit. The incident has sent a wrong message and the government of India should at the earliest deploy CISF for a better security," Khan said.

Police have tightened security arrangement at the sitting place of 'khadims' and outside the houses of both the families to prevent any further clash.