PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has started conservation work to save the Mughal-era Mahabat Khan mosque located in the middle of old Peshawar City.

Concerned officials say the move was timely and much needed since the structure has developed cracks due to encroachments. The minarets were also damaged.

The provincial and district administrations swung into action on Saturday night and started removing the garbage dumps and shops that were choking the historic structure. The move was part of a government’s project to save the old structure dating back to 17th Century. The government functionaries started removing shops around the entrance of the mosque that were damaging the historic place of worship.

These shops were encroaching on the historic mosque and causing a lot of damage to its structure, said the officials.

The KP government under a three-year project worth Rs87.7 million would restore the original beauty of the Mahabat Khan mosque by conservation of the old structure as well as provide basic facilities and repair wherever needed, said Dr Abdul Samad, the director of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Archaeology Directorate who was supervising the work.

“Encroachments are the biggest issue as they were damaging the foundation of the mosque and it might have had collapsed if such encroachments were not removed,” he said.

The shopkeepers, who had been rented shops by the Auqaf department, had increased the size of their shops many feet by digging shops and encroached on the entrance and surrounding area of the mosque.

“The mosque that was a historic landmark of the Peshawar City was hidden and getting damaged due to such encroachments,” said Dr Samad. The shops around the entrance and dumps were removed as a first step towards removing encroachments that were damaging the foundations of the historic structure and posed threat to it.

The official said that about four shops were removed the other night and 43 shops owners were issued notices to vacate their shops within a month so that the conservation work could continue to save the building. He said that the encroachments were threat to the very foundation of the old mosque.

The district and provincial authorities started the work jointly by first removing shops in and around the mosque, which was essential for restoring its historic beauty.

Published in Dawn, February 19th, 2018