KARACHI: “I look in that direction and my eyes see what my mind is still not getting used to. Suddenly I think, where is Baba? Then I remember,” smiles the toothless malang outside Hazrat Abdullah Shah Ghazi’s shrine in Clifton.

“I think even Baba won’t recognise his own home from the outside now,” the malang said laughingly, making the dozens of beads around his neck jiggle.

There is a small graveyard on the shrine grounds. A young man complained that he was prevented from visiting his grandmother’s grave there because of the heavy construction work and cranes looming above. “Perhaps it is for my own safety to stay away right now. That’s fine. But I hope they won’t also change the grave stones to match the surrounding architecture or ask us to exhume our dead and rebury them elsewhere on the demands of the people who would be moving to this soon-to-be very elite and high-class neighbourhood,” he said.

Qari Rafique Ahmed, who has a small footpath shop in a side lane of the shrine, said that he has been displaced for the duration of the renovation work but still he didn’t mind the change, because “change is always good”.

Firdaus Shah, selling mirrors, wall hangings, baskets, bracelets and lockets in the back lane said that he really liked the new front elevation of the shine because it reminded him of another such place. “I have seen pictures of Ghaus-i-Azam’s mausoleum in Baghdad. I think it is a copy of that,” he said.

Meanwhile, the devotees coming in pickups from all over the country to pay their respects were not really concerned about the new look. “Tell me which colour chador should I buy that will make Baba most happy,” asked one woman in a burqa. “Because what I really care about are the prayers and mannat I have come here for, not what change or renovation the mazar is undergoing. It is still the same Baba whose prayers make my wishes come true,” she said.

Still, the place has undergone a big change recently as the Bahria Icon Tower came up with new intersections, underpasses and flyovers being built and the nearby Shree Ratneswar Mahadev Temple narrowly escaping destruction, though it bears many cracks due to the work. It is said that the shrine of ‘the saviour of Karachi’ was spoiling Malik Riaz’s vision for the place so it, too, had to be given a facelift.

“But you don’t mess with monuments like this,” Well-known architect Yasmeen Lari told Dawn, when contacted.

“The arched openings in the new limestone and marble structure built to hide the original shrine are reminiscent of Indo-Gothic architecture. Abdullah Shah Ghazi’s shrine is ancient and one of the oldest historic sites around and they have done something terrible by giving it a new look to fit in with the surrounding construction. Doing away with the old to make way for the new has also impacted negatively on the Jehangir Kothari Parade and the temple there,” she said.

“Monuments and old buildings is what give Karachi its character and identity. Changing them instead of looking into how to maintain them or restore them will ultimately make this city lose its charm and character. Those making these drastic changes have in fact carried out a raid on Pakistan’s heritage,” the architect said.

“They needed to be more sensitive about this and think about what they were doing before carrying out these changes,” she said.

When informed that the local people and visitors to the shrine didn’t seem to mind the new look of the shrine, Mrs Lari said that people here need to understand the importance of their heritage and why it should be preserved. “I designed and built mud houses for the people in the rural areas but they said they preferred concrete structures until it was explained to them why mud was better for them and how well it suited their weather. You want to copy others and make Karachi like Dubai, not Karachi, because you don’t appreciate what you had, which was something original, unique and beautiful. This is how slowly Karachi is losing its precious soul,” she said.

“Abdullah Shah Ghazi’s shrine was part of our culture, our heritage. It was part of our history. But all these people supposed to preserve and safeguard the heritage of Sindh, all these advisory committees and public-funded organisations set up for the purpose, sat back and did nothing as they watched the change take place,” she concluded.

Published in Dawn, May 24th, 2016