Crying foul: Bagri community decries vandalism in graveyard

Community elders say no help forthcoming from minorities’ representatives or police

SUKKUR: The Bagri community of Larkana is desperately looking towards representatives of minority communities to help them seek justice over the recurrent incidents of desecration of graves at the Bagri graveyard.

The latest such incident took place around 10 days ago when unidentified men entered the graveyard located in Nazar Muhalla, Larkana, and desecrated over a dozen graves before escaping. The community’s elders reportedly contacted the office bearers of the Hindu Panchayat and apprised them of the incident but no action has been taken yet.



Bagri Social Welfare Association, Larkana, general secretary Lachman Das Bagri told The Express Tribune that this was not the first time that their graves had been desecrated. A similar incident had occurred one and half years ago but nobody was taken to task at the time.

He added that, this time, unidentified men not only broke the main gate of the graveyard but had also caused damage to over a dozen graves. According to the customs of the Bagri community, minor children are buried in a similar fashion as the Muslims, while the remains of the adults are buried in a circular-shaped tomb after cremation.

Lachman added following the incident, the community elders had also informed the police and the SHO had visited the site and assured them of early justice. But the assurances had proved to be farce as nothing had been done so far.

Being scheduled-caste Hindus, Bagris are the most neglected community and therefore, neither the Hindu Panchayat nor the elected representatives of minorities are keen to address their issues, he complained.

For his part, the president of Hindu Panchayat for Sukkur and Larkana region, Mukhi Eshwar Lal Makehji, said that they help all Hindus without discrimination over caste. Expressing his ignorance regarding the incident of desecration of graves in Larkana, he said no one had contacted him in this regard. Makheji justified his claims by giving the example of Anjali Kumari’s case, saying that the Hindu Panchayat had gone out of its way to help her parents and had spent Rs200,000 to hire a lawyer for her.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 19^th, 2014.