KARACHI: Experts at a session on Karachi’s history at the Sindh Literature Festival (SLF) on Sunday, when the three-day event ended, spoke on the city’s antiquity from the time of Lord Rama till the British era and lamented that the city was losing its past grandeur bit by bit with the passage of time because of rulers’ neglect as well as that of the public.

“Still there is a place called Rama Jharoka in Clifton where Lord Rama stayed with wife Sita and brother Lakshmana on their way to Hinglaj [now in Balochistan]. They also stayed at the place which was later called Rama Bagh, now called Aram Bagh,” said Gul Hasan Kalmati, author and historian, while speaking at the session.

Similarly, said Mr Kalmati, Greek historians had mentioned a place as Kurukala referring to the den of crocodiles, and that too was still there in Rerhi village on the fringes of Karachi, which is called Wagoon Dar [crocodile gate] from where Alexander the Great led an army to invade the country along the Indus.

“One of the famous twin islands near Karachi, we call Baba, is mentioned as Babba-Kitta in Greek history books in the times of Alexander.

All this proves Karachi was a bustling town millennia ago. We have found relics from parts of the city that are not less old than the Indus Civilisation.”

He said tonnes of ancient relics had been lost in Orangi when it was chosen as a settlement. And, he added, Chowkundi was not just a single cemetery with beautifully carved tombs, as 40 such places still existed in the city.

“They are dying because of our negligence, both intentional and unintentional. We have lost the place called Bhitai jo Takio, where the poet had stayed centuries ago but now it has been erased in the name of development,” he said.

Akhtar Balouch, writer and blogger, spoke at length on the statues of citizenry and officials — who served Karachi — that adorned the city during the British Raj. Those statues gradually disappeared after Partition.

“Among those statues,” said Mr Balouch, “Mahatma Gandhi was one eminent personality whose statue was mounted in front of the High Court of Sindh, then called the Chief Court, which was dismantled during the communal unrest after Partition.”

He added that the Quaid-i-Azam had ordered the authorities to hand over the statue to the Indian high commissioner. Similarly, the statues of eminent philanthropists Edulji Dinshaw (CIE) and son Nadirshah Edulji Dinshaw were erected at the quadrangle of Victoria Road opposite the Holy Trinity Church and on Bonus Road opposite the Palace Theatre, respectively, in 1933. Now, these statues were present on the Karachi Parsi Institute premises.

Besides, he said, the statue of Queen Victoria was robustly bedded in Frere Hall. “Unknown persons broke its nose, ears and hands, after which it was shifted to the Mohatta Palace, where it is still in safe custody.”

He said Harchandrai Vishandas, a former mayor of Karachi, lived in the city and served its people. “He would be the first to respond to people in trouble in the city.”

He said his statue was also installed in Karachi. “I tried hard to know when the statue disappeared, where it went and by which means, but could not get more details. At present, the statue is beheaded and is in the custody of the Mohatta Palace.”

He said the statue of goddess Lakshmi had been fixed on the city’s famous Lakshmi building but no one now knew about its whereabouts.

Similarly, Mr Balouch said, several clock towers had been built in the city to remind the citizens of time, but “now, barring Merewether Tower, the rest of the clock towers show correct time just twice a day as none of them are functional.”

Those clock towers were built at Empress Market, Lea Market, Ranchhore Line, Poonabai Tower, and the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation building, he added.

Published in Dawn, November 7th, 2016