Daily Times

Nowadays, the burial of a loved one has become a challenging task for the family as booking a place in a graveyard is more difficult than finding a place on the footpath to sleep.

And this is not the issue of an individual rather the story of the whole Rawalpindi.

When Asif Ali’s father passed away a few months back, he faced the same issue.

“It was July 2018, when my further died and was the toughest time for the entire family. But the real trouble began when we started searching for a nice place in the graveyard and despite the passage of several hours, I failed to find a place for my father,” Asif Ali said.

Finally, after paying the administrator of Dhok Kala Khan Graveyard a hefty amount, his problem was solved.

A large number of people are going through this ordeal now. Either they bury their relatives in the same grave of an old loved one or pay money to the grave digger to find a suitable place.

According to 2017 census, Rawalpindi is the city of 2 million where there are only 69 graveyards. The data shows that out of these, 67 are owned by the Municipal Corporation Rawalpindi and the remaining two are managed by Chaklala Cantonment Board. All of them except for Dhok Khabba’s union council graveyard, are full and do not have any space left for new graves. There are, however, some private graveyards established by the wealthy families in the city, but they are few in number and not open to everyone.

The Municipal Corporation graveyards are managed by the local administration committee.

The gravedigger keeps an eye on such graves which are either levelled due to lack of maintenance or of whom relatives do not visit at all

Due to lack of available space in the graveyard, residents are compelled to bury their relatives in old graves of others. But this is not possible without the alleged support of gravedigger, who charges hefty amount for this service even.

The gravedigger keeps an eye on such graves which are either levelled due to lack of maintenance or of whom relatives do not visit at all. He allots that space to others after receiving bribe money.

During the survey, it was revealed that the gravedigger gets Rs 15,000 to Rs 20,000 for a single grave, which includes digging and all other arrangements. The land required for an average grave is 18 square feet. Six feet is average length while three feet is the average width of a grave.

A local, Kashif Mahmoood informed that when his father passed away, they had no money to pay to the gravedigger but somehow his brother-in-law managed the amount.

Gravedigger Nazar Muhammad who works at Pirwadhai Graveyard, which is one of the biggest graveyards of the city, said while talking exclusively to Daily Times, “This graveyard reached its capacity 30 years back but even now we have to bury new dead bodies by levelling the old graves. Sometimes, we find skulls while digging old graves and we bury them in a corner of the grave and prepare a place for the new dead body,” Nazar added.

Union Council 38 Chairman & Pirwadhai and Eidgah Sharif Graveyard Management Committee President Zeeshan Ahmed Khan said that all the graveyards of the city are already occupied and there’s no other option for the residents except to bury their relatives in old graves of someone else.

“The management committee of graveyards has decided to impose a ban on the paving of graves,” he explained.

Ezzat Shah, caretaker of Muhalla Hukam Dad Graveyard briefed, “There’s no space in this graveyard but if required, we bury the dead body in between two graves,” adding that “we charge Rs 18,000 in advance for this arrangement”.

When contacted, Member of Provincial Assembly (MPA) Umar Tanveer Butt said also while talking exclusively to Daily Times, “The establishment of a new graveyard within the city is not possible as the provincial government has already allotted 2,000 kanal land for the establishment of state-of-the-art graveyards near Dhamial. Record of all graves in the new graveyard will be made online and citizens will be able to view the graves of their love ones from anywhere in the world.”

In 1996, former prime minister Benazir Bhutto announced a graveyard at Rakh Dhamial. For the proposed graveyard, a 2,000 kanal land was acquired from the Forest Department. The Punjab Shehr-i-Khamoshan Authority was also formed to develop a modern graveyard but the project failed to develop.

The new graveyards will be constructed on modern lines where data of all buried people will be computerised.

Published in Daily Times, January 22^nd 2019.