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On a three-day tour in Punjab to “revitalise old relationship” with Afghanistan, Shaida Mohammad Abdali, Afghanistan’s ambassador to India, was pained to see the shabby and dilapidated condition of his ancestor’s grave at Sirhind in Fatehgarh Sahib district. Shaida concluded his three-day tour of holding discussions with the government of Punjab and various business communities of the state on Thursday.
It was for the first time that he visited the grave of his ancestor, Zaman Shah Durrani, a former king of Afghanistan, now buried at a Dargah at Sirhind. He found the tomb in a miserable state, with its walls scribbled-over and the floor covered with bird droppings.
“I am really saddened to see the condition of the tomb, of very beloved king of Afghanistan (Zaman Shah),” Abdali told The Indian Express after offering prayers at an adjacent grave of a Sufi saint. He said he was “overwhelmed” by the visit, and that he would make efforts to improve the tomb’s state. “This tomb belongs to Afghanistan… I am going to think about how to rebuild the tomb and will discuss with the relevant institutions or the authorities for that.”
Zaman, who died in Punjab in the eighteenth century, had taken asylum in the country. Abdali said India felt like a second home to Afghans. “My family is rooted to this place…We feel at home with even a king of Afghanistan being buried in Sirhind,” he said.
About wanting better relations with Punjab, he said: “Punjab and Afghanistan had old relationships in all respects. From trade to culture to all kinds of relationship including the Sirhind one…”
Soon, Abdali said, an MoU will be signed between Afghanistan and Punjab. “We are starting with the air trade corridor… an MOU is being signed for that. Amritsar is being connected to Afghanistan for business and travel,” he said.