KARACHI – After a 40-year-long wait, the ashes of 130 Sindhi Hindus, Japanese, Chinese and Buddhists have finally reached their eternal destination – the Ganges River in India, which holds a very sacred position in Hinduism. Ashes stored in earthen pots, and plastic and steel jars were lying at a local cremation ground in Karachi since 1970 because the Indian government had been refusing to issue visas to the loved ones of the deceased people.
Though the relatives of 130 people are now content, there are still a large number of Hindus throughout Sindh who are waiting to receive their legal documents so they could travel to India and scatter the ashes of their loved ones in the Ganges. Hindus believe that the bodies of the deceased must be cremated and then their ashes immersed in the holy water for eternal transformation.
For some Hindus, the holy water is the Indus River since one of the Vedas was written on its banks, and for some it is the Arabian Sea, whereas for most, it is the Ganges River. The relatives of the deceased people had been waiting for a long time to be issued visas, and when they finally received their documents, a 10-member delegation took the ashes to Haridwar in the Indian state of Uttarakhand through the Samjhauta Express, commonly called the Friendship Express that runs between India and Pakistan.
Owing to the tension between the two nuclear countries, the visa procedure had been tightened and the situation had worsened to an extent where the people of the neighbouring countries could not obtain visas at all to travel across the border. In 2008, the media highlighted the plight of the loved ones of the deceased people, whose ashes were denied the last rite, after which the local Hindu leaders started their struggle for issuance of legal documents.
A well-known organisation set up by Pakistani Hindus, namely the Pakistan Hindu Foundation (PHF), launched a struggle the same year to force the Indian government to simplify the visa procedure for Pakistani Hindus, especially the Hindus of Sindh. The PHF also asked the Pakistani government to discuss the issue with the Indian government, but no action was taken in this regard.
PHF President DM Maharaj said that the Indian government had principally agreed to issue visas in 2009, but the customary delayed procedure took two more years for the final documents to be issued. “Though we were the ones who had initiated the struggle, we were not issued the visas. Some other local leaders were issued the visas instead, but despite that, we are happy that the Sindhi Hindus received some relief,” he said.
He also said that PHF’s struggle was not started only for 130 remains, but it was actually initiated so that the Indian government might sympathetically consider finding a permanent solution to the issue of visas for Pakistani Hindus for religious journeys. “Tens of hundreds of ashes are still stored at cremation grounds, temples and even at homes throughout Sindh. We demand the Pakistani government to talk to the Indian government for issuing more visas.”
According to another local Hindu organisation, the Sant Sada Ram Foundation (SSRF), another batch of around 100 ashes in different districts of Mirpurkhas division was waiting to be scattered in the holy water. SSRF leader Sain Laadha Ram said, “We have applied for visas, but there has been no response from the Indian Embassy so far, whereas a large number of families are still patiently waiting to hear something positive in this regard.”
