Some of the country’s well-known artists, writers, poets and scholars are buried here. — Photos by Rahat Dar
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One of the oldest cemeteries of Lahore, situated close to Lakshmi Chowk, Mominpura Kabristan is today surrounded with banners that condemn the Punjab government’s plan to demolish a part of it, despite it being a waqf (dedicated) property, in order to build a station for the Orange Line Metro Train.
“Demolishing the graves is the agenda of the Taliban and Daish which our government is following now,” reads a banner. Another sees the plan as against the principles of Islam — “Islam does not permit demolishing graveyards and mosques to build other buildings,” it says.
According to Waqarul Husnain, a custodian of the cemetery, the historic graveyard is no less than 700 years old. It is a Shia community graveyard. Initially, the place was the tomb of a saint but it was soon converted into a graveyard. Today, there are around 10,000 graves in the cemetery. Some of the country’s well-known artists, writers, poets and scholars are buried here. These include poet Nasir Kazmi, former PAF chief Mushaf Ali Mir, musician and classical singer Ustad Amanat Ali Khan, his son Asad Amanat Ali Khan, novelist Riaz Batalvi, music composer Rasheed Atray, dramatist Imtiaz Ali Taj and his wife Hijab Imtiaz Ali. Some of the graves are hundreds of years old.
The locals say they would go to any extent to save the graveyard. The caretakers of the graveyard have already moved court and got stay. The next hearing on land acquisition is scheduled to take place on July 27.
The government is said to have announced that the graveyard shall not be affected, but no reassurances have come in black and white.
The Shia community leaders, in their statements, have made this clear that along with their living members their dead are also not safe. “The childish aspirations of Shahbaz Sharif are pushing the province to the edge,” says Imtiaz Ali, a Shia cleric.
The government is said to have announced that the graveyard shall not be affected, but no reassurances have come in black and white.
“We need to protect the graves,” comments Shamim Hussain, one of the caretakers of the graveyard. “One the one hand, the Punjab government is planning to build model graveyards and on the other hand it is demolishing the old ones in the name of development.”
It may be mentioned here that the Punjab government recently announced setting up model graveyards, called Shehr-i-Khamoshan (the city of the quiet), in Lahore. These are supposed to provide modern services related to burial.
“If the government did not exclude the graveyard space, we shall take to the streets after Ramzan at Lakshmi Chowk every day,” says Husnain, another cleric.
He maintains that the ruling PML-N leaders “got the inspiration to demolish tombs, mosques, holy places and graveyards in the name of development from the House of Saud [in Saudi Arabia]. We shall not let our city become a Saudi colony.”
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