A society’s commitment to human dignity is measured not only by how it treats its citizens during their lifetime, but also by how it honours them after death. In Pakistan’s rapidly expanding metropolitan centres, however, a disturbing reality is emerging: finding a burial place for a deceased loved one has become an exhausting and deeply distressing ordeal. What was once a routine civic responsibility is fast turning into an urban planning crisis.

Cities such as Lahore, Karachi, Rawalpindi, Multan and Faisalabad continue to expand outward through new housing developments, commercial projects and private residential schemes. Every day, newspapers, electronic media and digital platforms advertise new housing societies offering plots of every size and price. Yet amid this unprecedented urban growth, one essential public necessity has been largely overlooked: adequate land for cemeteries.

For grieving families, the consequences are immediate and painful. The loss of a loved one is emotionally overwhelming, but the anguish intensifies when relatives must spend hours searching from one cemetery to another in the hope of finding an available grave. Funeral arrangements often remain uncertain until burial space is confirmed. In many cases, funeral prayers have to be delayed or rescheduled because a suitable burial place cannot be located. During the hot summer months, prolonged delays also raise concerns about the dignified preservation of the deceased, making an already traumatic experience even more distressing.

A nation that plans carefully for housing the living must also plan responsibly for honouring its dead.

A nation that plans carefully for housing the living must also plan responsibly for honouring its dead.

This challenge reflects far more than a shortage of land. It reveals the absence of long-term planning for one of the most fundamental public services every society must eventually provide.

Pakistan’s........

© Daily Times