For visiting Pak PM: lunch with Salman Khurshid, a boycott, protests in Ajmer

mangaloretoday.com/ DHNS

Jaipur, March 9, 2013 : After meeting with External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid, Pakistan Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf left for Ajmer, where he will offer prayers at the holy shrine of Sufi saint Khwaja Moinuddin Hasan Chisti.

He had arrived with about 50 people, including his wife and other ministers, for a day-long private visit to India. 

My Khurshid had hosted lunch for the Pakistan Prime Minister. The talks at the table were limited to discussions on composite culture and common interests that both sides shared.

"We received him in accordance with his designation," Salman Khurshid said on the lunch meeting. He said the Mr Ashraf’s visit to the shrine was not an occasion to discuss politics, as it was a private visit.

Security is tight in Ajmer, where several groups of people are protesting against the Pakistani Mr Ashraf’s visit. He is also expected to face a symbolic boycott at the dargah. The spiritual head of the sufi shrine there has said he will not assist him in prayers as a mark of protest over the mutilation of the bodies of two Indian soldiers in January.

Local lawyers have said they will greet the visitor with black flags and the Ajmer Dargah market association will also join the protest.