ISLAMABAD: While land grabbing has remained a major issue in the federal capital, some elements have now become active to encroach on state land by expanding old and abandoned graveyards.

Sources said a number of graveyards have seen illegal extensions. Besides other areas, old graveyards along the right of way of Islamabad Expressway have expanded massively - raising serious concerns about the efficiency of Capital Development Authority (CDA) which is the custodian of state land in Islamabad.

Sources said some private people were involved in this practice and the involvement of CDA officials with them cannot be ruled out. They charge people for burial of their loved ones in the graveyards along the expressway.

The issue of illegal extension of old graveyard was also taken up by the CDA planning wing with environment wing of the civic agency a few days ago.

Graveyards along right of way of Expressway expanded massively, raising concerns about efficiency of CDA

“It has been observed with serious concerns that the old/abandoned graveyards are expanding rapidly, e.g. graveyards falling in right of way of Islamabad Expressway, Sector I-11, I-12, D-12, Noorpur Shahaan etc. In some cases, illegal expansion of aforementioned graveyards has put CDA into embarrassing position as illegal expansion on the planned plots has hindered the delivery of possession of plots to the allottees/transferees of the plots,” stated a letter of the director urban planning dated June 27.

“One such example is street No 95 of D-12/2 where illegal expansion of an old graveyard has encroached on planned plots worth millions of rupees which has become a liability on CDA,” added the letter.

“In the light of position detailed above, it is requested that concerned formations of CDA must join hands in collaboration with district administration of Islamabad to get stopped the illegal expansion of old graveyards. It should be ensured that burials are only made at the designated sites for graveyards by CDA,” it said.

It may be noted that in Islamabad there is a designated graveyard at H-11 and before this there was the H-8 graveyard which is now almost filled. However, sources said in some areas old villagers still try to bury the bodies of their relatives in the old graveyards. Old graveyards at the length of the expressway are also being used by residents of Rawalpindi. This illegal expansion can create problems for the CDA in the expansion of the expressway in the future.

The letter also said that according to CDA regulations there was restriction on extension of graveyards.

“CDA board in its meeting held in 1993 had decided that environment directorate should take over the old/abandoned graveyards in Islamabad for maintaining the same as green areas which should be properly fenced and effective measures taken to ensure that no dead body is buried in these graveyards.

“It was further decided that the record would be verified to ascertain if all old graveyards were acquired by CDA along with surroundings areas at the time of the acquisition or not. If so, a list of the acquired graveyards or otherwise be prepared for record,” read the letter.

Sources said the decision of the board was not fully implemented that resulted into illegal extension of graveyards.

According to data of 2022, there were around 2,700 reserved graves in the two graveyards in the capital city. In most of the cases, the graves were booked on the kinship basis. For example, if wife of someone is buried there, her husband and in some cases children also got their graves reserved there. However, in 2022, the practice of reserving graves was stopped on the direction of the federal ombudsman.

Published in Dawn, July 3rd, 2024