LAHORE, Feb 5: The shrine of Mir Khwaja Mahmood, popularly known as Hazrat Eshan, a contemporary saint of Hazrat Mian Mir, has been encroached upon by locals.

Located on the Shalamar Road in Begampura, the monument is under the control of the Federal Archaeology Department. Besides, the Antiquity Act 1975 does not permit construction within the premises of a monument.

However, the encroachers have built houses on the premises and also converted the land into a small graveyard. The musafirkhana adjacent to it is in a run-down condition due to negligence of the authorities concerned.

People coming from different parts of the country and abroad in the past used to reside in the musafirkhana to attend the saint's urs on every 12th of Shaaban. However, the visitors have to manage their stay here on their own for the last more than a decade.

The only restoration of the monument was carried out about 15 year ago. Like Shahi Hamam and Kamran's Bara Dari, the authorities concerned did not bother to restore it on its original pattern, thus, giving it look of a newly-constructed monument.

Several other historical monuments in the provincial metropolis have been encroached upon by private people and some government departments.

These include tombs of Jani Khan, Mahabat Khan, Zebunnisa, Sharfunnisa, Nawab Bahadur Khan, a French officer's daughter, Dai Anga, Jehangir, and those at Chauburgi, Inayat Bagh, Mariam Zamani Mosque and Shalamar Gardens.

Although the department has won most of the cases against the encroachers and served notices on them, it is yet to get orders of courts implemented.

Hazrat Eshan, a native of Bokhara, studied at a Royal college and became an accomplished scholar. The fame of his piety and devotion reached far and wide, as he made hundreds of thousands of disciples in Herat, Kabul and Kandahar.

He came to Kashmir in Emperor Akbar's reign and Jehangir, his successor, took him to Agra. During the rule of Shah Jahan, he shifted to Lahore. His mausoleum was established in his life time.

It is said that Nur Jahan was cured by the prayer of Hazrat Eshan, who used to hold religious discourses with Hazrat Mian Mir.