Gora Qabristan A Legacy of British Era By Aziz Sanghur

Gora Qabaristan is a shortage documentary, produced, directed and written by Aziz Sanghur. Mr. Sanghur is a documentary film-maker from Pakistan. The documentary shows that the Gora Qabaristan was built by British regime. It can be roughly translated as White Man's Graveyard. It was a necropolis where only British army officers and members of their families were laid to rest in the 18th century. With the passage of time, mainly after partition of India, it became known as a cemetery for members of die Christian community, which it always was. The graveyard is in terrible condition. Actually it has been affected by flooding. It is a historically important place because the tombstones tell the history of the region, that is how things happened in Karachi. Some have been taken away, some have disappeared. Then there is heaps of garbage. Sites like this graveyard are markers of history. The original consecration of the Karachi Christian Cemetery was in 1845 during colonial rule but there is a tombstone set in the wall near the main gate of the cemetery bearing the date 1843. After the partition of India, the British High Commission in Karachi invited the members of the various Christian bodies to form the Karachi Christian Cemeteries Board. It is located on main Shahrah-e-Faisal, Karachi. Until around 1981, the cemetery was divided into two parts, Protestant and Catholic. However, since then, the wall separating them was removed and the two merged. The Karachi Christian Cemetery Board manages its affairs. Following the Germany invasion of Poland, between 1942-1945 some 30,000 refugees escaped to Karachi. In memory of the 58 Polish citizens who died in Karachi in the 1940s, a memorial has been erected by the Polish government. It lists the names of all 58 individuals. There is a tomb of Phyllis Louise Lawrence, who was the first wife of Sir Henry Staveley Lawrence, Collector of Karachi. The Lawrence couple were married in 1899 and had three children before Phyllis was killed in a carriage accident in Karachi on 30 June 1912. The encroachers are trying to grab the tomb site. Three sites of tomb was also encroached by land grabbers. In 2006 the cemetery continues to be desecrated with boys of the surrounding localities playing cricket and football here causing damage to the graves. Several statues have been stolen by the theft. Because, those statues were antiques. Graves statues and stones are not safe in this graveyard when there is only one guard who is usually threatened by adjacent residents Here is history of this graveyard which is enough to declare it a historical place of Karachi City.