What lies beneath?: Three graves mysteriously dug up in Multan

Initial investigations reveal that the graves were of children, aged less than five years.

MULTAN: A Qasim Bela local discovered three dug up graves with bones wrapped in coffins in Multan on Thursday.

Mushtaq Ali was in the cantonment graveyard area, also known as ‘army qabrustan’ (Military graveyard), offering prayers at his son's grave when he noticed that nearby graves were dug up.

“The graves were dug up and there were some bones in them,” another eye witness, Gulzar said.

According to eyewitness reports, the graves were not very old and their size indicated they belonged to young children. The blood stained coffins were lying outside their graves and were torn through the middle with the bones within exposed.

The news of the mysterious discovery spread like wild fire in the area and residents along with media gathered at the graveyard. One of the residents said that a gardener is deputed at the graveyard, who is also responsible for the security of the graves, however his duty hours stretch from  morning till afternoon.

Some residents, on the condition of anonymity, said that they had witnessed some ‘pirs’ frequenting and allegedly practicing black magic in the grave yard over the past three months.

Police, arriving at the scene two hours after having been informed, took the bones in to custody and started an investigation .

Officials refused to comment on the situation. Police have also been trying to locate the relatives of those buried in the graves.

According to sources, initial investigations have revealed that the act might have been committed by animals from the nearby forest or from the vicinity in this grave yard.

Further investigations revealed that the graves were of children less than five years old.

Meanwhile, talking to The Express Tribune, the Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) has said that the grave yard was not an exclusive army graveyard, that civilians too buried their dead in the cemetery. The statement suggested that animals may be the cause of the incident.