RAWALPINDI: Civilians in cantonment areas cannot bury their loved ones in Race Course Graveyard without the permission of station commander.

The issue came to light when the residents staged a protest against this restriction at Charing Cross.

The protest not only triggered traffic jam on different roads of the cantonment, but also forced the Station Commander, Brig Tanveer Shehzad, to allow burial of a local resident in the graveyard, an official of the RCB told Dawn.

According to the official, a large numbers of residents of Westridge staged a protest at Charing Cross after the authorities did not allow the heirs to bury their relative in the graveyard.

Shafqat Bajwa, a resident of Westridge Bazaar, told Dawn that the residents met the RCB authorities who said the board wanted to extend the graveyard but a public representative was sitting on the funds allocated by the government for this purpose.

He said the RCB authorities informed the residents that so far the graveyard was supposed to take the martyrs of armed forces and other military families.

The locals urged the cantonment and the garrison authorities to expand the Race Course Graveyard so that the civilian population of the cantonment could bury their near and dear ones.

Meanwhile, a senior official of RCB told Dawn that the civic body would develop another graveyard in the cantonment area as the main graveyard near Race Course Park was facing shortage of space.

Published in Dawn, September 23rd, 2017