The small graveyard. PHOTO: MUHAMMAD JAVAID/ EXPRESS
During a hearing of a case related to possible damage that could be caused to the graveyard, Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui remarked that he will not allow the desecration of the graves.
The court ordered that the construction of the metro bus project should take place till the boundary of the graveyard, which is situated on a green belt on 9th Avenue.
In executing the metro bus project in the capital, the twin cities’ municipal administrations face resistance from the owner of the graveyard, which was going to be uprooted.
A legal battle between Rawalpindi’s civic agency and the graveyard's owner started after he obtained a stay order against possible demolition.
Contractors began digging the green belt adjoining 9th Avenue, but 20 graves lie in the way. The graveyard, owned by Raja Kaleem, is where his family members have been buried since 1945. Kaleem had told The Express Tribune, that his family had relinquished their claim on compensation for ancestral land and asked Capital Development Authority (CDA) to let them retain ownership of the graveyard in 1960.
He had said on May 1, the contractor had assured him that the graveyard would be protected. The graveyard covers one kanal and one marla.
Kaleem had earlier said that his family members had been buried in the graveyard for decades. The first grave was of his grandfather Raja Gulab Khan, who died in 1945 and the last burial was of his father Raja Ghulam Hussain, who died in April 2013.
The owner had claimed that the court had sought comments from the administration on May 7, after he filed a case.
CDA Municipal Administration (DMA) Director Hamza Shafqat had said if there was a family graveyard, the authority could not remove it, though it had restrained the owners from extending it.
Rawalpindi Commissioner Capt. (retd) Zahid Saeed, who is also project director for the metro bus, had earlier claimed that he had already discussed the issue with CDA chairman, who had assured him of his support.
COMMENTS (12)
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But allowed to destroy all those buildings where living humans live.
People in Pakistan don't have anything good to do I suppose, going to graveyard for fateha, dead wont listen to us and the One who does doesn't need us to go to graveyard, we can do it in our heart and he will listen. If going to the graveyard gives closure then you need a psychiatrist. We should look for the betterment of the society, instead of turning it into a graveyard. Saudi Arabia does the same and no one points fingers at them. I feel for you Mr Raja Kaleem, but does the graves provide you any relief? Living dont have a place to sleep, while we're fighting over our dead relatives. I sorry for offending anyone, that is a personal opinion.
@Imran: Judiciary did not do anything when Clifton cantonment Board and DHA destroyed Karachi's natural sea shore by the so called land reclamation and destruction of mangroves forests however when it came to construction of flyover and underpass which would reduce pollution by avoiding traffic congestion the judiciary got into quick action and halted the construction.
Islamabad was itself an environmental disaster. For development of the city, hundreds of trees were cut down. Infrastructure is a trade off between environment and facilitation the masses.
why cant they separately allocate a lane for bus route like the rest of the world, is it necessary to build one right in the centre ? It seems ugly
Islamabad Metro bus is an environmental disaster in the making. A classic case of 'Paradise Lost'. Why existing roads were not used for the buses, as the roads were wide enough for the buses to ply comfortably. Huge waste of public money.
Islamabad will lost the status of a green and clean city with the construction of the Islamabad Metro Bus. When the Jinnah avenue and many major roads has been widened recently at the cost of green belts, there was no need to create a separate track for the bus, as existing roads could have been used for the buses. Total waste of precious tax payers money. Same amount was good enough for initiating public transport service in as many as ten cities of Pakistan.
Govt please teach this ppp court a lesson they are becoming headech now .This is a court established by ppp to have their verion of Iftikhar Chaudhry now.
Metro Bus will destroy Islamabad, these buses should have used the existing infrastructure rather than defacing Islamabad. Metro Train will have the same fate.
I wonder when judiciary can stop construction in Clifton on basis of environment, why they cant see the same in Islamabad