BAHAWALNAGAR: A centuries-old cemetery along the shrine of Baba Farid Ganj Shakar’s grandson Baba Taj Sarwar Chishti is inundated with sewage damaging the remains of several graves there.

Locals have been demonstrating against the desecration of the graves and apathy of the administration for the last few days.

Chishtian’s cemetery is reportedly 800 years old and one of the largest in Pakistan spanning over 411 acres.

In order to highlight its historical significance, locals claimed that shrines from the era of emperors Shamsuddin Altamash and Ghayasuddin Balban also stood here once.

Despite its significance, sewage from Chishtian town has been released towards the cemetery for seven days and not only is the graveyard submerged, but a good number of graves have also been badly affected.

Worse part is the site is littered with garbage. The gravity of the situation can be gauged from the fact that the authorities concerned are indifferent to the condition of the graveyard. Locals have often demonstrated to record their protest over the issue.

Senior leader of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf Sikandar Fayyaz Bhadera expressed concern over the situation and said that in civilised societies immediate measures were adopted for the cleanliness and maintenance of graveyards. But here the situation was opposite.

He alleged that Chishtian Tehsil Municipal Administration (TMA) released sewage towards the graveyard and had also been dumping garbage there.

TMA Administrator Arshad Sidhu claimed the sewage overflowed towards the cemetery as a mini bridge collapsed during the installation of an underground pipe by the public health department. Due to this, the sewerage system got choked and sewage overflowed.

The bridge had been repaired and sewage was being drained out from the cemetery with the pumping machines. The issue would be resolved soon.

Published in Dawn, July 12th, 2016