NEW DELHI: The Aga Khan, the spiritual leader of the Ismaili community, yesterday called on President Pratibha Patil and discussed a host of issues, including reforms in madrassa education and the conservation of monuments in India.
The Aga Khan, who is on a week-long trip to India, met Patil for about a half-hour. According to official sources, the 70-year-old leader, also known as Prince Karim Aga Khan IV, spoke enthusiastically about the need for reforms in Islamic religious schools.
“He talked about the possibility of replicating a programme of reform of madrassa education at the Aga Khan’s Educational Institution in Hyderabad,” said an official.
The Ismaili leader also visited Humayun’s Tomb and Sundar Nursery to survey the progress of a project for the revitalisation of several cultural heritage buildings located in Nizamuddin area in the heart of New Delhi. The Aga Khan Trust for Culture and the Aga Khan Foundation forged a partnership with several Indian government agencies, including the Archaeological Survey of India, for the preservation of the historic buildings in 2004. The project is modelled on the Bagh-e-Babur integrated conservation project being implemented by the Aga Khan Trust in Kabul, Afghanistan.
He also met opposition Bharatiya Janata Party leader L K Advani.
The Aga Khan arrived here on Monday on a visit that marks his 50th year as the imam of over 25mn Ismailis worldwide.
He met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Vice President Hamid Ansari and Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Monday.
The Aga Khan, one of the world’s pre-eminent philanthropists and businessmen who runs one of the largest private development networks focusing on the poor, will go to Hyderabad, Mumbai and Ahmedabad before he heads to Dhaka on May 19.
In Mumbai, the Aga Khan - one of the world’s wealthiest Muslim investors - will get a grand reception from the 6,000-odd Ismailis in the city.
In Gujarat, he will meet Chief Minister Narendra Modi and will also visit Siddhpur, a town in northern Gujarat that is home to a large Ismaili community.
The Aga Khan last visited India in September 2006, when he laid the foundation of the Aga Khan Academy for Excellence in Education in Hyderabad.
Earlier, in 2004 the spiritual leader gave away the Aga Khan Award for Architecture at a presentation ceremony at Humayun’s Tomb here. – IANS