Jan 06, 2014 - New Delhi: Hindu and Sikh families are certainly having a bad time in Muslim-dominated Pakistan.
With cremation grounds are vanishing fast in Pakistan, the minority Hindus and Sikhs are compelled to bury the the mortal remains of their dear ones, Amritsar-based Sikh historian Surinder Kochhar told Mail Today.
In a shocking revelation, Kocchar said that some travel hundreds of kilometers just to perform the last rites, while others have no option but to bury the dead.
According to Kochhar, there were about 12 cremation grounds before Independence in Lahore. But not even a single facility exists at present. After Independence, there were 1,200 Hindu families living in Lahore which has now come down to only six.
The condition is quite similar in other Pakistani towns too including Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (formerly called North-West Frontier Province), where about 35,000 Hindus and Sikhs live, he said.
A member of the Hindu community, whom the report did not identify, said that the cremation sites that had existed in Lahore before 1947 had either been demolished or converted into houses.
He further added that the Hindu families in Swat and Tirah Valleys, Dera Ismail Khan, Bannu, Kohat, Malakand, Bunair, Naushera and Peshawar are forced to travel long distances to reach Hasan Abdal (Panja Sahib) to cremate the dead, the historian said.
Each of these journeys can cost around Rs. 50,000, he said, adding that the danger of robbery is also there.
The grieving families are stopped at every district and wait for hours to get a no-objection certificate (NOC). Besides Hasan Abdal, another cremation ground is located 86 kms away from Lahore.