By Aamir Latif
MAKLI, Pakistan
A narrow, battered road leads to a hilly plain peppered with magnificently built funerary complexes, tombs, and graves in various sizes -- many fully or partially damaged, while others have started to crumble.
This is Makli, one of the world’s largest necropolises, located about 100 kilometers (62 miles) east of Pakistan’s commercial capital Karachi, and just 7 kilometers (4.3 miles) from the historic Thatta, the once capital of Sindh, which until 1840 had been an independent state, and for centuries, a land occupied by foreign invaders -- from Alexander the Great to Mughal emperors, and from Samma to Tarkhan and Arghun rulers.
Located on a Makli foothill, and added to the UNESCO’s list of protected heritage sites in 1981, the necropolis consists of over 20,000 tombs, pavilions, and open graves of rulers, army generals, poets, architects, and unnamed soldiers dating back to the 14th century.
But the current picture of the site -- once an emblem of craftsmanship -- is no less than one of apathy due to the government’s traditional negligence, massive encroachments, the theft of precious stones and tiles, and non-cooperation by the locals.
To make things worse, a major highway which connects Karachi and Thatta has bifurcated the necropolis into two segments, causing further damage to scores of mausoleums and graves.
Damage is evident
The northern segment located on a high plain is in a relatively better condition as archeologists, with the help of UNESCO, are trying to restore and conserve the construction prowess of Samma, Mughals, Tarkhans and Arghun despite all odds.
But the southern portion spread over a relatively low plain presents a picture of total disaster with crumbled structures, and numerous craters on the ground -- apparently the work of locals, who frequently and freely collect sand and stones from the graveyard for construction purposes.
A huge hole in the boundary wall of the mausoleum of Baqi Baig Mirza -- a 17th-century Sindh ruler -- welcomes a tourist besides the blue-tiled floor, and arches decorated with floral stones are blemished with holes.
The yellow-stoned grave, meticulously carved with Quranic inscription, lies in a vast courtyard.
The condition of the 400-year tomb of Mirza Taghral Baig, a general of the Mughal era, is no different.
The color of yellow puff stones is fading. The niches and arches have already started to crumble with cracks appearing in the round ceiling.
The open-air tomb standing on long pillars also serves as a refuge for stray dogs to avoid the broiling midday sun.
Similarly, the funerary complex of Mirza Jani Baig, and his father Mirza Ghazi Baig -- other early 17th-century Sindh rulers -- awaits archeologists’ attention.
The blue and green-tiled structure with a white round ceiling is closed -- like many other tombs -- for general visitors in an attempt to protect it from further damage. A portion of the courtyard wall, for example, is completely damaged.
Surrounded by a courtyard and decorated with floral carvings, a sizable roof portion of the double-story mausoleum of Esa Khan Tarkhan -- a Thatta governor also from the 17th century -- has sustained damages, with the yellowish color of the ceiling and the boundary walls fading.
Besides, thousands of open, platform, and Kutcha (clay) graves are spread over an area of 1900 acres -- named after a local woman, Mai Makli -- according to one of the local anecdotes.
“It is very rare that such a large number of rulers, poets, architects, and other literary figures are buried at one place. This is a stark reminder of dedicated craftsmanship and architecture representing different dynasties,” Qazi Asif, a Karachi-based blogger, and author of several archeology-related guidebooks, told Anadolu Agency.
“But unfortunately, like many other archeological sites across the country, we are not taking care of this, either,” he said.
Locals’ ‘wrath’
Makli is Asia’s largest necropolis but for locals it is nothing more than an ordinary graveyard.
Incidents of encroachments, stone theft, and sand collecting are commonplace as the successive governments have failed to construct a boundary wall around the necropolis although this has been strictly recommended by the UNESCO.
“Local politicians do not allow us to construct the boundary wall because the graveyard land has become too precious following the establishment of several housing societies in and around in recent decades”, Nazir Ahmad Zardari, the administrative officer of the necropolis, told Anadolu Agency.
So much so that, Zardari deplored, several government offices have been constructed on the graveyard land.
“The absence of a boundary wall and the shortage of vigilance staff have allowed for the theft of precious stones, and tiles from the tombs and graves in the last several decades”, he added.
The UNESCO has long recommended a complete ban on new burials and the use of vehicles within the graveyard premises to protect the site but the local community is not ready to follow through with that.
Zardari noted that powerful people came with arms to bury their dead, whereas ordinary people staged sit-ins and blocked the road when prevented from doing so.
Similarly, he went on to say, the use of vehicles in the graveyard premises created carbon and noise pollution, which also caused damage to the architectural treasure.
“The violators have only one argument. They say, ‘we are locals. How can you stop us from burying our dead or bringing in our vehicles?’,” he said. “They [locals] don’t care what damage they are inflicting to this magnificent site.”
Zardari complained that they had a force of merely 35 personnel for vigilance, whereas the actual requirement to secure both segments of the graveyard was no less than 400.
“How can I contain theft and other social crimes with the incumbent force?” he asked.
Supporting Zardari’s views, Qazi Asif said: “The government must take two immediate steps if it really wants to save this site: construct a boundary wall and remove encroachments from the graveyard land.”
