My aunt died today (may God rest her soul), and I accompanied the funeral all the way to the graveyard in North Karachi. Apparently, the graveyard where my grandmother lies buried is full to capacity. And this one in North Karachi seemed to be reaching its own as well. Made me wonder… there is really a big shortage of graveyards in Karachi.
Look at the entire Defence / Clifton area for example. There are only three legitimate graveyards in the entire area. The first one is an old one in DHA Phase-1, which is probably all occupied. The next one is built on a strip of mountainous outcrop in Phase-4. This one has graves occupying every strip of barren rock available. The third one? Its on the flood plain of Malir river in Phase-7 extension. One flooding event in the Malir river, and the entire graveyard will be washed away.
In the rest of Karachi as well, most inner city graveyards have already started overflowing. The oldest ones are even spilling over (such as Mewa Shah). So why do we forget to allocate good pieces of land for the dead? Most folks are hard pressed to find good pieces of land for their deceased kin and have to resort to burial in far off places. Also, most graveyards scattered around the city give a haphazard look. There is no graveyard planning in place, and you find graves scattered in all places, out of rows, and even under pathways at times.
So what makes a good graveyard? Well, standardization for one. In a good graveyard, nobody should be allowed to make huge mausoleums or shrines for themselves. There should just be three or four standard grave types and everybody should follow one of those layouts. The graveyard should have all graves lined in neat rows and there should be pathways between the rows for easy access. Wild plants should be cleared away and trees and decorative bushes should be planted at regular intervals to give the graveyard a neat look. Basically, this is really all that makes a good well-kept graveyard. Is it so much to ask? So why this gross neglect of the dead? Are we so wrapped up with life that we don’t realize that this time will come for us all? Shouldn’t a city the size of Karachi have mandatory sites designated for graveyards in all localities? It is about time we wake up to this issue.
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