Gora Qabaristan, Karachi

There is some evidence that an even older Christian cemetery existed on Muhammad Ali Jinnah Road near an area known as Eidgah.

[1] In 1995, a group called CARE (Caring, putting into Action, and Restoring the Environmental degradation of the cemetery), made up of people from all parishes and churches, made it their objective to make the cemetery a clean and peaceful resting place for the departed.

Among the problems identified requiring attention were: stopping the continuous flow of sewage into the cemetery grounds; the cutting and clearing of weeds almost 8 feet high, removal of garbage piled up at least 3 feet high over an area of almost 2000 square yards along the West wall; the construction of a concrete wall (estimated to be 6,000 feet), and a permanent pumping station to drain out rain water during the monsoons.

[7] In 2006 the cemetery continues to be desecrated with boys of the surrounding localities playing cricket and football here causing damage to the graves.

[11] The most prominent Pole buried in the cemetery is Air Commodore Władysław Turowicz who played a key role in Pakistan's aviation and aerospace industry.

The city's district government in 2011 installed two new gates and paved the pathways inside the graveyard.

Gora Qabaristan
The cross at the entrance gate
During 1939–1941, hundreds of thousands of Poles were deported to labor camps by the Soviet Union. Between 1942 and 1945, nearly 3,000 were given refuge in Karachi (then under British rule). This photo shows a memorial to the refugees who died in Karachi and were buried at the Karachi graveyard.