The few Zoroastrian families living in Peshawar before 1947 had established their cemetery on the then North Circular Road (since renamed Sunehri Masjid Road) in the Peshawar Cantonment area. That cemetery is no more in use.
It was handed over to a private contractor who has turned it into a paid car parking lot. There are reasons to suggest that the sprawling place should be put to better use, such as, say, a public park.
First, the government is committed to respecting all faiths and their sensitivities. As such turning the place into a public park would be more respectful of the choice than a commercial activity.
Second, Peshawar, known as the city of flowers, is fast losing its sprawling public parks, and the metropolis has turned into a concrete jungle. Over the last decade, Peshawar Cantonment has been denuded of its public parks.
The hockey ground on Fakhr-i-Alam Road is housing a three-storey store. The Aman Chowk, with its flower-laden park, was excavated to build a bus station. Nearby, the playing field that was publicly used by the youngsters day and night, was first temporarily closed and has since been slapped with prison-like concrete boundary walls to keep the public away.
As an institution, Pakistan Army is known for the promotion of physical activities. The shrinking public facilities for physical development within the limits of Peshawar Cantonment, however, paint a different picture.
Those in command would do well to intervene and turn the erstwhile cemetery into a public park. It will be nice if it could be named appropriately.
SAYED GB SHAH BOKHARI
PESHAWAR
