Pakistani Hindus: Separated, even in death
Remains of hundreds of Hindus make it to India’s Ganges River after decades.
ISLAMABAD:
The remains of 135 Hindus, believed to have died as long ago as the 1950s, have finally been allowed to cross over to be scattered in India’s Ganges River, the Los Angeles Times has reported.
For years, the ashes were housed in Karachi’s Hindu Cremation Ground, a several acre legacy of Pakistan’s Hindu community built in the 1880s.They were placed in clear disposable boxes (to appease wary customs officials) and allowed the final three-day journey.
Caretaker Murad Buksh,63, whose family has tended these cremation grounds for generations, looked over shelves holding urns that have accumulated in the last few months – those with red shrouds bound for India on a second trip, which could be as early as September; those in white to be scattered locally, many in Pakistan’s Indus River, which is said to have “sweet waters” similar to the Ganges’. Although many Pakistani Hindus chose to scatter their relatives’ remains locally after partition, some families left their loved one’s ashes at the cremation grounds hoping by some miracle they’d one day reach India. Several years ago, Karachi born Hindu priest Ramnath Mishra teamed up with New Delhi’s Shri Devo Uthan Sewa Samiti, a religious civic group, to try to make that miracle happen.
Initially, they were stonewalled by officials on both sides. But then the civic group’s general secretary, Vijay Sharma, got the Indian media interested, increasing the political pressure. In January, after enough time had passed since the Mumbai attacks, they received the go-ahead. A delegation of 12 Pakistani Hindus accompanied the remains, transported in the trains’ overhead luggage racks.
They arrived in New Delhi on January 21, then waited three weeks for an auspicious date before heading with a band and hundreds of well-wishers to Haridwar for the ceremony. There, the ashes, mixed with milk and flower petals, were scattered in the Ganges. “I felt such elation and honour that I could help bring these souls long separated by partition to the banks of the Ganges,” Sharma said. “If both sides would allow regular trips for Hindu ashes, it could help both countries respect each other’s religion.”
Back in Karachi, local Hindus say the cremation grounds are coveted by the Muslim majority. A few years ago, the city government appropriated four acres for a highway overpass, promising compensation that never came, Hindus here said. The construction destroyed boundary walls, leading to the desecration of some of the grave sites that dot the area. During a state programme to help rebuild the grounds, workers and passersby stole water tanks, smashed fences, cut electrical wires and poured ashes out of metal urns so they could sell the containers, Mishra said.
Caretaker Buksh, a Muslim, said he doesn’t mind handling Hindu bodies or being on the grounds among the dead. “Collecting the wood, burning bodies – it’s a job,” he said. Others are less open-minded. “I don’t remember a time when Hindus and Muslims lived in peace,” said Nooruddin Bharucha, a shop owner in Mithadar. “It’s ok to do business with them. But they’re blasphemers, and that’s unacceptable to us.”
Somewhat ironically, Pakistani Hindus who move to India find they’re also discriminated against given their association with Pakistan.
Maharaj Lukhmi Chand, 83, a Hindu priest, was recently kidnapped near Khuzdar, Balochistan, and held by unknown captors for more than two weeks before his negotiated release. He’s frustrated that even though he’s been a victim of apparent religious extremism in Pakistan, he’s viewed with suspicion by Indian Hindus.
“We’re treated as traitors in India,” Chand said. “And our community here in Pakistanis over a million people. Not everyone has the resources to move.”
More to the point, many Hindus consider Pakistan their home.
“My father and grandfather lived here,” said Rajish Kumar, 25, resting in the shade of a tree at Karachi’s Shri Swami Narayan Temple. “This temple, where we live surrounded by Muslims, is our enclave.”
At the cremation grounds, caretaker Buksh took a last look around the crypt before snapping the lock shut.
“I believe it’s the right thing,” he said of the ashes bound for the Ganges. “They need to find peace. They should be able to go to India.”
Correction: Due to an editing error, an earlier version of the story was running the text of another story. The correction has been done.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 26th, 2011.
The remains of 135 Hindus, believed to have died as long ago as the 1950s, have finally been allowed to cross over to be scattered in India’s Ganges River, the Los Angeles Times has reported.
For years, the ashes were housed in Karachi’s Hindu Cremation Ground, a several acre legacy of Pakistan’s Hindu community built in the 1880s.They were placed in clear disposable boxes (to appease wary customs officials) and allowed the final three-day journey.
Caretaker Murad Buksh,63, whose family has tended these cremation grounds for generations, looked over shelves holding urns that have accumulated in the last few months – those with red shrouds bound for India on a second trip, which could be as early as September; those in white to be scattered locally, many in Pakistan’s Indus River, which is said to have “sweet waters” similar to the Ganges’. Although many Pakistani Hindus chose to scatter their relatives’ remains locally after partition, some families left their loved one’s ashes at the cremation grounds hoping by some miracle they’d one day reach India. Several years ago, Karachi born Hindu priest Ramnath Mishra teamed up with New Delhi’s Shri Devo Uthan Sewa Samiti, a religious civic group, to try to make that miracle happen.
Initially, they were stonewalled by officials on both sides. But then the civic group’s general secretary, Vijay Sharma, got the Indian media interested, increasing the political pressure. In January, after enough time had passed since the Mumbai attacks, they received the go-ahead. A delegation of 12 Pakistani Hindus accompanied the remains, transported in the trains’ overhead luggage racks.
They arrived in New Delhi on January 21, then waited three weeks for an auspicious date before heading with a band and hundreds of well-wishers to Haridwar for the ceremony. There, the ashes, mixed with milk and flower petals, were scattered in the Ganges. “I felt such elation and honour that I could help bring these souls long separated by partition to the banks of the Ganges,” Sharma said. “If both sides would allow regular trips for Hindu ashes, it could help both countries respect each other’s religion.”
Back in Karachi, local Hindus say the cremation grounds are coveted by the Muslim majority. A few years ago, the city government appropriated four acres for a highway overpass, promising compensation that never came, Hindus here said. The construction destroyed boundary walls, leading to the desecration of some of the grave sites that dot the area. During a state programme to help rebuild the grounds, workers and passersby stole water tanks, smashed fences, cut electrical wires and poured ashes out of metal urns so they could sell the containers, Mishra said.
Caretaker Buksh, a Muslim, said he doesn’t mind handling Hindu bodies or being on the grounds among the dead. “Collecting the wood, burning bodies – it’s a job,” he said. Others are less open-minded. “I don’t remember a time when Hindus and Muslims lived in peace,” said Nooruddin Bharucha, a shop owner in Mithadar. “It’s ok to do business with them. But they’re blasphemers, and that’s unacceptable to us.”
Somewhat ironically, Pakistani Hindus who move to India find they’re also discriminated against given their association with Pakistan.
Maharaj Lukhmi Chand, 83, a Hindu priest, was recently kidnapped near Khuzdar, Balochistan, and held by unknown captors for more than two weeks before his negotiated release. He’s frustrated that even though he’s been a victim of apparent religious extremism in Pakistan, he’s viewed with suspicion by Indian Hindus.
“We’re treated as traitors in India,” Chand said. “And our community here in Pakistanis over a million people. Not everyone has the resources to move.”
More to the point, many Hindus consider Pakistan their home.
“My father and grandfather lived here,” said Rajish Kumar, 25, resting in the shade of a tree at Karachi’s Shri Swami Narayan Temple. “This temple, where we live surrounded by Muslims, is our enclave.”
At the cremation grounds, caretaker Buksh took a last look around the crypt before snapping the lock shut.
“I believe it’s the right thing,” he said of the ashes bound for the Ganges. “They need to find peace. They should be able to go to India.”
Correction: Due to an editing error, an earlier version of the story was running the text of another story. The correction has been done.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 26th, 2011.