KARACHI – Terrorism, where it has caused unimaginable distress and pain to the citizens of various countries, is also not leaving the dead alone. Ashes of 130 Hindus, Buddhists, Chinese and Japanese wait their immersion in the River Ganges in India for over 40 years now, which is apparently being delayed because of visa issues.
In 2009, after media reports about a local cremation ground which hosts these ashes were aired, protests were held in India and Pakistan to which the Indian government caved in and agreed to allow relatives to carry their ashes to India. However, no practical steps have been taken so far in this regard.
According to the Hindu belief, a human being is made up of earth or dust, water, fire, air and ether and when a Hindu dies his soul returns to ether, the body is cremated thus it meets fire and air and the ashes are immersed in the Ganges, where they meet water. However, the soul cannot rest until the ashes are not returned to the water.
Hindus are the biggest religious minority and number 2.7 million according to 1998 national census, with the majority living in Sindh. Since the two countries tightened the already-cumbersome visa procedures, Pakistani Hindus have not been able to take the remains for immersion in the Ganges at Haridwar.
The historical Gujjar Hindu Community Burial and Cremation Ground Old Golimar (Old Dhobighat) in Lyari town was built in 1934 by the then government of Bombay presidency (when Sindh was part of Bombay presidency) and a fully equipped library was established inside the cremation ground with hundreds of the books on every subject including religion. Later the library became dysfunctional and books were replaced by pots with ashes.
Each of the earthen urns stored at the cremation ground since 1970 contained human ashes, included a tag in Sindhi, Urdu, Hindi and English languages with various identification details such as the name, the date of death and the city of the deceased and were tied with red-and-white cloth and flower wreaths dotted with kumkum powder. Some ashes were even stored in flour bags.
However, last year when Indian government agreed to issue visas to these ashes, they were shifted to plastic jars for transportation. Now, the ashes await their fate in plastic bags as no real progress was made on the visa issue.
“In 1992 there was a circus and play land in the city that some Chinese and Japanese were running and they wanted to be cremated upon their death so their ashes are lying here. Nobody has claimed them yet,” said Baluch, the elderly caretaker of the cremation ground.
“No visas have been issued yet,” said president of the Pakistan Hindu Foundation (PHF) D M Maharaj. He also demanded of the Pakistani government to talk to Indian government so that the ashes can be sent to India.
