KARACHI, July 10: An influential person has been buried in a national monument where such acts are banned under the law, but the departments concerned seem to be least troubled about taking any concrete action against the people who have broken the law, it has been reliably learnt.
According to highly-placed sources, people brought the body of Ather Hussain Jatoi, a grandson of Sindh Hari (farmers’) Movement leader late Hyder Bux Jatoi, on June 5, 2008 to former ruler of Sindh Mian Ghulam Shah Kalhoro’s tomb in Hyderabad, which is protected under the federal government’s Antiquities Act 1975, and buried him in violation of the act.
The sources said that the Antiquities Act 1975 calls for long prison terms and heavy fines for violators, but non-implementation of the law has encouraged influential people to violate it without any fear of prosecution or accountability. Sources said that though the archaeology department, after failing to stop the illegal burial, sought help from the police and the city administration, both organizations – fearing the clout of the people involved – refused to extend any help to stop the act.
Insiders said that a large number of people had come for the funeral, so the lower staff posted at the site popularly called Miren Ja Quba (Tombs of the Mirs), the Kalhora dynasty graveyard located in Hirabad, a locality in the centre of Hyderabad, could not stop the illegal burial.
Sources said that the site chowkidar did approach the area police at Baldia police station, which reportedly refused to stop the act from being committed and even refused to register the FIR against the people committing the act. The FIR has so far not been registered.
The sources added that the archaeology department officials also approached the city government but did not get any help from there either. The archaeology department staff at Hyderabad has sent a report of the incident to its high officials in Karachi and Islamabad.
Responding to Dawn’s queries, the archaeology department’s Sindh/ Balochistan chief Dr Arif said that he has received the report from his Hyderabad staff and subsequently, the Hyderabad city government and police have been approached, but regretted that both of these organizations have not yet taken any steps against the culprits.
He said the department’s Hyderabad deputy-director Mazhar Ali had reported the matter to the Hyderabad district nazim as well as the DCO and Hyderabad district police officer, but nobody seemed inclined to take action against the influential violators of the law. He said the site watchman, Rab Rakhio, had approached the Baldia police for assistance, but this was not provided.
Hyderabad DCO Ali Ahmed Lund confirmed to Dawn that the burial had indeed taken place and that he knew that the Kalhora dynasty graveyard was a protected national monument where such acts were not allowed. However, he said that now that the burial had taken place nothing could be done.
Asked what action had been taken against the violators of the law, he said that so far no action has been taken. “But the government is looking into the issue and soon, stern action will be taken so that it acts as a deterrent for others who might also be planning to bury their dead in this protected graveyard.”
Not the first incident
Sources told Dawn that this was not the first incident of influential people burying their dead in the protected monument.
The last such incident was the burial of Barkat Kadri, father of Ghazanfar Kadri, an official of the Sindh home department, in April 2006. At that time the archaeology department staffers posted at the Kalhora tombs had tried to resist physically, but a heavy contingent of police that was accompanying the officials attending the burial had caught the staffers and held them in a police mobile till the burial was completed.
Later, when the matter was reported in the press and the archaeology department approached the Sindh chief secretary, he ordered an inquiry. The inquiry was given to an additional home secretary, Asif Hyder Shah. The matter remains buried in a file cabinet of the Sindh Secretariat.
The sources said that other people buried illegally in the Kalhora dynasty graveyard include Malkan Begum, wife of retired SP Bux Ali Kadri. SP Qazi Abdul Ghani and his family members, who had died in a road accident near Quetta, were buried in 1996.
Sindh Hari Movement leader Comrade Hyder Bux Jatoi was buried in May 1970. His wife Mumtaz Jatoi was buried in October 1970. Their sons Mazhar Jatoi and Dadan Jatoi were also buried here. Singer/musician Fakir Abdul Ghafoor was buried here in 1986. Maulana Ghulam Mustafa Qasmi was buried here under the supervision of a former Sindh culture secretary.
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