Hindu girl’s body exhumed after protests by Pakistan clerics

The body of a Hindu girl who was buried in a graveyard in Pakistan had to be exhumed after protests by Muslim clerics.

Summan Prem, 9, was laid to rest almost a year ago at Ratta Amral graveyard. The girl was buried because her family belonged to the Balmiki Hindu community, who bury their dead instead of cremating.

Muslim clerics came to know of it after the family put up a tombstone bearing her name along with Hindu mantras. The graveyard’s managing committee was accused of negligence and under pressure the girl’s father with help of a few Hindu relatives exhumed the body on December 1 and reburied it in the Christian graveyard.

The Hindu family’s act of assuaging “Muslim sensitivities” took place in the dark of the night, under tight security arrangements.

The Muslim community was threatening to stop burying their dead in the graveyard unless it was “purified” after Summan’s body was removed. Alarmed by the anger, the management requested Summan’s family to move her out of the Muslim graveyard.

The girl’s father, Prem Kishan said after reburying his daughter, “When we buried our Summan there on October 1, 2009, we mistakenly thought it was a Christian graveyard. We did not want to cause any controversy or annoy anyone. If the graveyard management committee does not want us Hindus to bury their dead here, we won’t”.

The chairman of the Ratta Amral graveyard management committee, Mohammad Mohsin, said, “We were not aware of the Hindu burial. Clerics and people of the area brought it to our notice and their reaction made us request the family to remove it to the adjacent Christian graveyard. The grave-digger mistakenly assumed that Summan was a Muslim. Otherwise, we are aware that non-Muslims cannot be buried in our graveyard.”