NEW DELHI: Pakistan president Asif Ali Zardari personal offerings to the tombs of a dead Indian saint and an exiled Indian emperor have been officially ‘pinched' from public funds from the Pakistan government treasury. A Pakistan government spokesperson has said the $1 million donation to one of India's most famous sufi shrines, that of Khwaja Moinuddin Chisti, located at Ajmer, in the western Indian state of Rajasthan will be footed by the Pakistan exchequer and not from the president's personal purse. Presidential spokesman Babar also told reporters in Pakistan, that the $50,000 donation handed over by Zardari to the mausoleum of the last Moghul emperor of India Bahadur Shah Zafar in Myanmar earlier this year was also paid from the government treasury. In April this year, Zardari had visited Indian on a ‘personal visit' amidst much fanfare. Zardari had also met prime minister Manmohan Singh during his daylong visit to India, during which Zardari's son Bilawal also accompanied. Zardari had said that his visit to the Ajmer shrine was personal and he had gone to seek the saint's blessings.
