In the days of Z.A. Bhutto, when the obscure grave of the great ruler of Slave Dynasty, Qutbuddin Aibak, lay in an unknown hut just off Anarkali Bazaar, a piece in my newspaper saw the ruler order a tomb to be built. “Great kind rulers should be remembered always,” he said at its opening. Aibak had died in a horse fall while playing polo in the vast green expanse outside the walled city. The year was 1210 AD, almost 814 years ago.

Aibak was a very kind and considerate ruler known as ‘Lakh-Bakhsh’ (Giver of Lakhs) and a man with a sharp mind. At one stage, he mentioned that he did not like graves scattered all around the walled city. He wanted them at one large space. According to the research in ‘Tarikh-e-Farishta’ (Vol 1), Aibak ordered that a large piece of land in the south of the village of Mozang be set aside as a graveyard. That space was to house at least 150,000 dead and be useful ‘forever’. This place was to become the second largest graveyard in the sub-continent after Makli Necropolis near Thatta in Sindh, a UNESCO World Heritage site.

As the Miani Sahib graveyard spread, it was in Emperor Jahangir’s days in the 1620s that a formal shape came about. A land piece equal to 150 acres was officially marked out for the graveyard, which is almost the same as it exists today. The missing portions are at the edges where people have constructed houses. All these houses, amazingly, have legal permission. In 1962, the Miani Sahib Graveyard Ordinance 1962 was enforced and for the last 62 years, the graveyard has ‘laws’ that apply. But given the massive increase in Lahore’s population from 150,000 persons approximately in Aibak’s days to the present 14,407,000, the graveyard is insufficient. If 3.5pc of the population dies every year, it still means 500,000 new graves are needed every year. Miani Sahib is already full, so naturally newer ones pop up. But being the oldest, it has a few personalities that need remembering and visiting to say a silent prayer.

To my mind, the greatest freedom fighter of Punjab, Dullah Bhatti, who was skinned alive and killed by Emperor Akbar in 1599, 525 years ago. All he was doing was demanding an end to unjust ‘Farmer Taxes’ – ‘Lagaan’. His father and grandfather also meted out the same treatment. All the victims of Akbar’s fierce cruelty were carted out to Miani Sahib and buried there. One estimate puts their number at over 100. According to a legend, the Sufi saint Shah Hussain attended the execution, and cursed the hangman by claiming that he would meet the same fate from the same ruler. That took place. Just where the hangman was buried is a mystery.

Another alleged ‘freedom fighter’ – better described as a communal extremist – was Ghazi Ilmuddin Shaheed, who had murdered a Hindu book publisher on Hospital Road opposite the Mayo Hospital, accused of printing a book defaming the Holy Prophet (PBUH). Though Jinnah tried to get his execution converted to a life imprisonment, the British did not oblige. One night his body was silently buried in Miani Sahib.

But the person whose funeral I personally attended as a journalist was the poet Saghar Siddiqui, a saint of a man and homeless who died on a street pavement in 1974 at the age of 46. People would buy his poetry and publish it as theirs. He would often hold ‘mushairas’ on pavements. His poem ‘Laal Mori Pat Rakhio Bhala Jhoole Laalan’ is legendary. His dog that followed him all these years sat at the place where he died and passed away exactly a year later.

Among other greats who are buried at Miani Sahib was the amazing music composer Khawaja Khurshid Anwar, a classical music genius and an Indian and Pakistani music composer. He was a genius for after topping the Indian Civil Service Examinations in 1935, he forgot to attend the prize distribution ceremony. He instead decided to be a music composer. Among his songs are ‘Chali Re Chali Re’ and ‘Tera Mera Nit Ka Pyaar’. Also in Miani Sahib is the grave of the great Pakistani writer, playwright, and author Saadat Hasan Manto who died in 1955. He is probably the most well-known ‘rebel’ writer. Among his famous writings are ‘Toba Tek Singh’ and ‘Thanda Gosht’ besides an array of masterpieces. He was a person not afraid of ruffling the bureaucracy and religious charlatans. He had to suffer imprisonment under a military dictator.

Among the numerous military heroes is the grave of Major Shabbir Sharif Shaheed. His bravery in the 1971 War is legendary and is considered the most decorated military officer. My first view of him was as a student at St Anthony’s School Lahore where in the annual sports, he won almost every race. He became a school hero before he joined the army. The list of greats and well-knowns is endless.

My own dear sister and youngest brother are buried there as is my dear grandmother. Now that space has virtually run out, a few people have started using graves that are neglected and are flat. A lot of graves in the southern portion are 10 to 15 feet deep. Rain and neglect add to the problems. Flattened spaces are used for new graves. The relevant bureaucrats visit the graveyard once a year as the law prescribes, they pass orders that on the face of it make it to newspaper columns. But then that is the end of the matter. The ancient graveyard continues to deteriorate.

Managing graveyards is a full-time activity where cleaning and rebuilding is part of the exercise. Normally for two or even three generations, there is interest, but then the memory fades, unless it is a famous person. The condition of Miani Sahib reflects the state of our bureaucracy. The question is just how many new graveyards are needed around Lahore to manage the 14m plus population of the city. This is a question that needs answers quickly. In the West as the Muslim population grows at a rapid rate, the question of cremation has emerged. The great Urdu poet Noon Meem Rashid was cremated in England according to his will. But that is a subject best left alone.

Published in Dawn, June 2nd, 2024