Admissions to Islamabad’s H-8 graveyard only on kinship basis

ISLAMABAD: A federal secretary wrote to the administrator of H-8 graveyard — a famous resting place for indispensable men and women.

My parents whom I loved a lot are buried in this graveyard. Hence I also wanted space here, he explained. Please reserve two graves in the names of Saleem Sethi and Nargis Sethi, his letter requested.

This DMG couple have served as federal secretaries of several key ministries. They were virtually indispensable during the PPP tenure.  The then prime minister Yousaf Raza Gilani once called Nargis as his “Condoleezza Rice”. They were at the climax of their career when the reservation of graves was requested.

Sethis were not the only influential family struggling to secure allotment of graves in the graveyard which is running short of space. There is a list of around 500 individuals who have seized the space there, most of them, on kinship basis. 

Admiral (R) Muhammad Sharif has also figured among them. His wife is buried there. Sardar Mehtab Abbasi emerged as the candidate for reserving the grave of his mother and Nafeesa Inayat Khattak’s likely resting place is also in H-8 graveyard.

Several bureaucrats can also be noticed in the list. Included among them are retired federal secretaries, former FBR chairman and the veterans of intelligence agencies. The graveyard is spread over 50 acres. There are around 40,000 graves. It has a capacity to accommodate another 10,000 bodies. However, admissions on ‘open merit’ have been closed. Only the entries on kinship basis are welcome. 

How can one reserve the space depends on the muscle of applicants. The influential ones contact directly the high-ups and the commoners negotiate with the graveyard staff, discussion with officials and applicants have found.

A retired FBR officer who reserved the space there, told The News that he wrote an application to CDA member for the allotment and was obliged. That his wife is buried in H-8 graveyard was the reason of applying for the reservation.

Saleem Sethi said he applied for the space because he was then proceeding to Washington to assume the post of Pakistan’s director in the IMF. “I thought life is uncertain. My sister and parents are already buried in H-8 graveyard. I, therefore, decided to get reservation for myself and the wife,” he told The News.

An official of municipal administration directorate that deals with the Islamabad’s graveyards though admits that Sethi had applied, he said the application was not approved. “Instead of one grave, he asked for two,” the officer said explaining the reason of refusal.

Sethi isn’t aware of this rejection even if municipal official’s claim is true. However, the fact remains that his name is enlisted among those allocated graves. We come across applicants everyday wishing their burial in H-8 graveyard but we decline reservations if they don’t have a close relative already buried on the premises, the official said.

Even I myself wanted space here, he further explained. 

“I requested a colleague for the allotment who advised me to have my wife buried first. I can’t bury her alive; hence I have failed to get space in the graveyard under my administration,” the official said.