LAHORE: Authorities keep quiet as city wall is damaged
By Zulqernain Tahir
LAHORE, May 17: The renovated City Wall between the Sheranwala and Kashmiri gates has recently been broken at yet another place by some influential people, as the Ravi Town administration has failed to take any legal action against them.
These people had damaged it from two other places about one and-a-half years ago. The town administration officials have allegedly helped them break the thick historic wall to make entrances to their houses.
They have installed gates in the broken holes to give an impression that they are living in a citadel. A resident of the Sheranwala Gate, Muhammad Nazir, told this reporter that he and some area people had asked the Masti Gate police station to stop vandalism, but to no avail.
"They are so powerful that they can even demolish the whole structure to meet their purpose," he believed. Archaeologists have expressed grave concern over vandalism and held the City District Government responsible for it. They say the government, which has already failed to restore other historic monuments in the city, should protect it from this kind of destruction.
Federal Archaeology Department Director-General Saleemul Haq said the provincial government had done a great job by renovating the wall in the late 1990s. However, it would lose attraction, especially for visitors, if it was not saved from vandalism.
Mr Haq said the CDG was responsible for the preservation of the wall because it was not declared a protected monument. He asked the government to take measures to restore it.
When contacted, Ravi Town Nazim Amir Munir said he had asked the TMO concerned to look into the matter after which legal action would be taken against the culprits.
DCO Khalid Sultan said he had no knowledge of this vandalism. However, he said, he would visit the place and order appropriate action against those involved in blemishing the wall.
The City Wall was renovated by the provincial government in 1997-98 with a huge sum of money. It had also planned to erect the similar structure around the 12 gates of the old city to give it a Mughal-era touch, but the plan could not be materialized because of the change in the government.
Mughal Emperor Akbar, during his 14-year stay in Lahore (1584-98), had built the 30-foot-high brick wall to serve as a fortification but it decayed fast. Maharaja Ranjit Singh rebuilt some of its portion in 1812 and surrounded it with a deep and broad ditch.
