HASSAN BAKHSH Vs. ILAHI BAKHSH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) In the immediate neighbourhood of the city of Multan there is a large tract of unculturable or uncultivated land generally known as the Mai Pak Daman or the Pak Daman graveyard. From time immemorial it has been used by the Mahommadan community in Multan for the purpose of burying their dead. But there is no evidence to show when or how it was originally set apart for the purpose of a burial ground.

(2.) In the judgment of the Chief Court in this case there occurs the following passage giving, as their Lordships think, a very probable account of the origin and early history of this graveyard :- Bahawal Hakh, the famous saint, was born in the 12th century of the Christian Era. He had a son, Sadr-ud-din, whose wife was called Mai Pak Daman. She was revered as a saint, and her body was buried in a shrine within the area in suit. No one can tell when the surrounding land was definitely set aside as wakf ; but we can safely conjecture that, in the first instanco, Musalmans began to bury their dead here and there in the waste land about her tomb, because of the desire to be buried near the body of a saint. There can be no doubt that for hundreds of years the land about her tomb has been used as a burial ground, and though there is no direct proof of dedication as wakf, we can safely conclude that long before 1858 it had. become wakf a least by user.

(3.) The year 1858 referred to in the above passage is the date of a representative public meeting of Mahommadans called by the authorities for the purpose of considering the question of Mahommadans graveyards for the city. At that meeting a resolution was passed apparently in accordance with the suggestion of the Government to the effect that owners of khankahs or shrines should keep open graveyards in their own khankahs, that four old graveyards, of which Mai Pak Daman was one, should be kept open for the whole Mahommadan community, that three new graveyards should be provided, and that all other graveyards should be closed. The predecessor in title of the person for whom the Court of Wards is now acting took part in giving effect to this resolution.