Grave sales emerge as a business for poor Balochs

BY GHANI KAKAR
2010-01-27

The sale of ready-made graves has emerged as a new business in Balochistan because of a shortage of jobs and free graves. [Ghani Kakar]

QUETTA, Pakistan – When Habibullah goes to a bazaar, he’s not buying – he’s selling a new product: pre-dug graves.

“Booking a grave in advance is much cheaper than those graves which are bought (when they are needed)”, he said.

“Daily, I spend most of my time … (trying) to sell graves and to convince those people who have a dead body … to buy a grave from us”, Habibullah said.

The idea of buying gravesites is nothing new in most countries, but in Pakistan, where graves used to be free and were dug by the families of the deceased, it’s a new trade.

A desire to earn a living in an underdeveloped region with few job opportunities is one reason behind the emergence of this new business. The other is a shortage of free gravesites.

Habibullah, 45, a sales agent at a graveyard near Bhosa Mandi, a rural area of Quetta, said, “I am earning Rs. 4,000 (US $48) a month, and if I (work overtime) the graveyard owner will pay more”.

Habibullah said he sought other work for a long time before becoming a gravedigger. “Although my income is very low and I am hardly covering my home expenses with this job, I think it is better than being jobless”, he said.

Amanullah, 55, who owns a local graveyard and sells plots there, told Central Asia Online that gravediggers fall into one of two categories: those who dig graves and get paid daily by the landowner, or those who have already dug graves in various graveyards they own and are now trying to sell the sites.

Some graves are plain holes in the ground, while others are covered with concrete.

“Mud-based graves are cheap. (Those) made of concrete have high costs and have different shapes (above ground)”, Amanullah said.

In Quetta, as the population has increased, the cost of the graves has gone up. But that inflation doesn't translate into higher pay for the gravediggers.

Shoukat, 62, a daily gravedigger for different cemeteries, told Central Asia Online, “I dig a grave in two or three days and get Rs. 250 (US $3) a day. … It is a very tough job for me to dig daily, because I'm older now. But there is no other work for me”.

When asked how much a grave costs, he said, “One grave made of mud costs some Rs. 10,000 (US $118), but if that grave is made from concrete … according to my knowledge, … it costs some Rs. 15,000 to 18,000 (US $177 to $213)”.

The cost is high in part because the purchase price in Quetta includes a form of protection. The so-called “land mafia” would otherwise put buildings on top of graveyards, taking away the ability of the survivors to pray at the graves of their loved ones. Graveyard owners who sell gravesites can afford to pay guards to protect their land.

Because grave-selling is a new trade in Quetta, officials haven’t imposed any restrictions yet. They see the industry as a source of jobs and as a solution to the general lack of burial space throughout the area.

Abdul Nazeer, 35, a graveyard owner, said, “People are very impressed with our services, because we provide them the guarantee of a safe environment, and now this trade is expanding”.

“Being a citizen of Balochistan, I am very aware of the whole situation in the province," he said. "After an analysis, I decided to start the trade because I'm the landlord and all lands here will remain unsold”, he said, assuring people that the site would remain sacrosanct.

A couple of months ago, the city government issued some notices to the people involved in the trade, but it took no further action.

“In Balochistan, the local people have been denied their basic rights for decades, especially by our political leaders”, said Rozi Kahn, a former administrator of the Zarghoon town in Quetta. “Action against those engaged in this trade was not pursued because we took a humane view of the situation”.

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