Egypt reviews airport security, services    Egypt seeks Indian expertise to boost pharmaceutical industry    Egyptian pound shows stability vs. USD in early trade    Egypt's PM heads to Japan for TICAD 9 Africa development summit    National Council for Childhood reviews plan to combat child labour    Egypt's Supreme Organ Transplant Committee strengthens oversight, standards    Price cuts underway across Egypt, says trade federation report    African agribusiness market expected to reach $1tr by 2030    Israelis protest for hostage deal amid growing pressure on Netanyahu    Serbia's Vucic vows 'tough measures' against protesters after unrest    Zelenskyy seeks US security guarantees as Trump says he can 'end war now'    Egypt prepares unified stance ahead of COP30 in Brazil    Egypt's FM, Palestinian PM visit Rafah crossing to review Gaza aid    Egypt delivers over 30 million health services through public hospitals in H1 2025    Egypt recovers collection of ancient artefacts from Netherlands    Egypt harvests 315,000 cubic metres of rainwater in Sinai as part of flash flood protection measures    Fitch Ratings: ASEAN Islamic finance set to surpass $1t by 2026-end    Renowned Egyptian novelist Sonallah Ibrahim dies at 88    Al-Sisi says any party thinking Egypt will neglect water rights is 'completely mistaken'    Egyptian, Ugandan Presidents open business forum to boost trade    Egypt's Sisi, Uganda's Museveni discuss boosting ties    Egypt's Sisi warns against unilateral Nile measures, reaffirms Egypt's water security stance    Egypt, Huawei explore healthcare digital transformation cooperation    Egypt's Sisi, Sudan's Idris discuss strategic ties, stability    Egypt's govt. issues licensing controls for used cooking oil activities    Egypt to inaugurate Grand Egyptian Museum on 1 November    Greco-Roman rock-cut tombs unearthed in Egypt's Aswan    Egypt reveals heritage e-training portal    Sisi launches new support initiative for families of war, terrorism victims    Egypt expands e-ticketing to 110 heritage sites, adds self-service kiosks at Saqqara    Palm Hills Squash Open debuts with 48 international stars, $250,000 prize pool    On Sport to broadcast Pan Arab Golf Championship for Juniors and Ladies in Egypt    Golf Festival in Cairo to mark Arab Golf Federation's 50th anniversary    Germany among EU's priciest labour markets – official data    Paris Olympic gold '24 medals hit record value    A minute of silence for Egyptian sports    Russia says it's in sync with US, China, Pakistan on Taliban    It's a bit frustrating to draw at home: Real Madrid keeper after Villarreal game    Shoukry reviews with Guterres Egypt's efforts to achieve SDGs, promote human rights    Sudan says countries must cooperate on vaccines    Johnson & Johnson: Second shot boosts antibodies and protection against COVID-19    Egypt to tax bloggers, YouTubers    Egypt's FM asserts importance of stability in Libya, holding elections as scheduled    We mustn't lose touch: Muller after Bayern win in Bundesliga    Egypt records 36 new deaths from Covid-19, highest since mid June    Egypt sells $3 bln US-dollar dominated eurobonds    Gamal Hanafy's ceramic exhibition at Gezira Arts Centre is a must go    Italian Institute Director Davide Scalmani presents activities of the Cairo Institute for ITALIANA.IT platform    







Thank you for reporting!
This image will be automatically disabled when it gets reported by several people.



Preserving Pakistan's history to safeguard its future
Published in Daily News Egypt on 01 - 02 - 2008

Poor Lahore. This jeweled city of the Raj was recently hit by a suicide bomber aimed at lawyers protesting President Pervez Musharraf s imprisonment of his top judiciary. As body parts scattered the tree-lined Mall, Rudyard Kipling s city of dreadful night became the city of dreadful day. The outrage could not have happened in a more symbolic spot. Just up the road from the bombed Victorian high court stands Kim s gun - the great 18th-century Zam-Zammah cannon made famous in Kipling s book "Kim - pointing towards the scene.
While the historic cities of Pakistan s great rival, India, soar up the league table of celebrity, nothing better displays Pakistan s current misery than the state of Lahore, joint capital of many an Indian empire and of British Punjab. Splendid Victorian palaces still line the boulevards of the Mall: the high court, the governor s house, the general post office, the government college and Lahore s museum, Kim s Wonder House. Even the art college built by Kipling s father, John Lockwood Kipling, survives, with students squatting under giant fans in its corbelled hall.
Two kilometers away, across this now sprawling eight million-strong metropolis, heaves and sweats Lahore s walled city, old and unchanged. Here, on a wet January night, one can easily imagine the fleet young Kim darting through the mud and huddles of humanity, over the rooftops on some mystery woman s errand. At its heart lies Lahore Fort, its gates, gardens, mosques and decorative finishes the finest Mughal monument after the Taj Mahal. Crowded outside its walls are scruffy courtyard houses called havelis, markets, food stalls, brothels and alleys of unimaginable dirt and decrepitude. Buried within are shrines, mosques and derelict palaces. Only a few structures have been restored by enthusiasts, such as the exotic Cuckoo s Den restaurant by the fort.
In no other world city have I seen so much magnificence so neglected. Pakistan s ancient sites, those of the Indus Civilization and Taxila and Moenjodaro, are well guarded. Limited preservation is being done on Lahore Fort and Shah Jahan s exquisite Shalimar Garden in the suburbs. But saving Lahore itself has become a desperate struggle conducted by a few lone warriors, such as the Karachi architect Yasmin Lari, and Lahore s Kamil Mumtaz.
The recent blast at the high court followed persistent attempts by the government to demolish the building, despite its handsome moulded brick walls and terracotta, marble and teak inside. The authorities also tried to demolish old Tollington market on the Mall. Looking like England s East Anglian railway station, it was saved by public outcry and is now a thriving art centre.
Such carelessness is not for want of help. The World Bank offered $10 million to restore the old city, which the authorities used to pay for drains. A so-called Sustainable Development Walled City project has hired offices and bureaucrats, but seems to have lost the will to conserve anything. Nobody is trying to stop a hotel company from buying up a street of traditional private residences and demolishing them - houses that in Marrakech would be worth millions and might one day be so in Lahore. There is no protection for these structures, and if there were, a well-placed bribe would negate it.
Even a modest project initiated by Lari to restore the royal route through the walled city from the Delhi Gate to the fort has ground to a halt, from a mix of corruption and inertia. The gate itself was demolished by the British in the 19th century but rebuilt, probably at British viceroy Lord Curzon s instigation, in the 20th. Through the murk of the royal route can be seen Mughal arches, lattice-work panels and classical porticos. All Pakistan s history is here, but disintegrating beneath encroaching shanties, cobwebs of wires and piles of rubbish.
Pakistan used to pride itself on its cities being cleaner and more modern than India s. This is no longer so. While Islamabad seeks to create a past for itself, Lahore s past is collapsing around it. Hovering over its ancient walls is a sense of utter neglect, so much so that some 400 buildings have been scheduled for demolition as they have been deemed dangerous.
The reason is rule by distant dictator. Some dictators take pride in their past, eager to make their mark on the nation s narrative. This was true of the Shah of Persia and even of Saddam Hussein. It is sad that present-day Pakistan, once a prized province of India s Mauryan, Mughal and British empires, should have cut itself off from that narrative. Though eager to be admired abroad, Musharraf has allowed one of the great cities of Asia to decline into squalor.
I am not sure, but any country that neglects its past loses touch with its present and endangers its future. From the Indus to the Himalayas, Pakistan should be the object of every traveler's desire.
Simon Jenkinsis a veteran British journalist and Guardian columnist. This article is distributed by the Common Ground News Service, and can be accessed at www.commongroundnews.org.


Clic here to read the story from its source.