Graves and garbage as far as the eye can see

Authorities indifferent to Karachi's Azeempura Graveyard being filled with garbage

KARACHI: To Muhammad Nadeem’s surprise, his wife’s grave at the Azeempura Graveyard was littered with garbage and polythene bags. “This is nonsense,” he yelled at the caretaker of the graveyard, questioning how such a huge heap of garbage could accumulate in the graveyard.

All the garbage of Shah Faisal Town, District Korangi, has been dumped in the Malir River, adjacent to which the Azeempura Graveyard is situated. A part of the boundary wall has collapsed, due to which all the garbage that is dumped inside the river washes up in the graveyard. Once a week, according to one of the caretakers, someone sets the garbage on fire, due to which the graves also get affected.

The graveyard is littered with garbage but the authorities are turning a blind eye. PHOTO: ATHAR KHAN/EXPRESS

When The Express Tribune visited the graveyard on Tuesday it reeked of pungent garbage and wisps of smoke were visible near the Malir River. Someone had recently burnt garbage and only the charred remains of scores of graves and the dilapidated boundary wall were visible.

As crows fly low over the heads of visibly irked visitors, Nadeem cleans his wife’s grave with his own hands. “I visit the graveyard twice a week,” he said, adding that ever since the boundary wall has been collapsed, garbage has started accumulating inside the graveyard. “How could we leave our deceased inside this garbage?” he asked.



Covering her nose with her scarf, Alia recites verses of the Holy Quran at her mother’s grave. “It has been three months since my mother’s death and now I regret burying her in this graveyard,” she said. Several times, Alia herself has given money to the caretakers of the graveyard to clean the graveyard. “The government simply does not pay any heed,” she said angrily, adding that the authorities deliberately burn garbage so that fire engulfs the graves as well and they get new spaces for burials.

Citizens who have buried their loved ones in the graveyard are outraged at the situation. PHOTO: ATHAR KHAN/EXPRESS

The small Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) office situated at the entrance of the graveyard was padlocked. A caretaker of the graveyard told The Express Tribune that ever since the KMC banned burial in six graveyards of the city, one of which was the Azeempura graveyard, the office has remained closed.

Deputy Director of KMC’s Graveyard Department Sarwar Alam was unaware of the situation. He said they have written to the authorities to take action regarding the collapsed boundary wall and garbage, but nothing has been done. Alam said they do not have enough funds to deploy security guards at the graveyards.

According to a truck driver who brings garbage to dump in the river, around 12 to 15 trucks from Shah Faisal Town throw garbage in the river every day. “We never throw it inside the graveyard,” he clarified, adding that they are unaware of how the garbage accumulates at the graveyard.



Chairman of District Municipal Corporation Korangi Nayyar Raza said that the district generates around 1,500 tons of garbage on a daily basis, part of which is dumped near the Malir River from where they have outsourced a contractor who moves that garbage to the landfill site in Jam Chakro.  For the garbage inside the graveyard, he said it could be old and assured that he would look into the matter and not let anyone desecrate the graves.

[brid video="123093" player="7247" title="Graves and garbage as far as the eye can see"]