The need to write this column arose after social media splashed photographs of Gali Surjan Singh, just off Kucha Chargaran inside Delhi Gate, with flowers decorating this amazing place. It reminded me of my visit to Seville in Spain, where almost every house is profusely decorated with colourful plants.

If ever a city reminded me of old Lahore it is Seville, where once Muslim rule prevailed, and whose Moorish culture still is the foundations of Spanish life in all its aspects. In 2011, even before the Walled City of Lahore Authority was set up, yours truly wrote a column about this ‘gali’. The need to save old Lahore from the powerful destructive power of the trader classes arose after a team of World Bank economists came visiting the old city. The crumbling and decaying historic old city appalled them. As economists go they submitted a shocking report urging that old Lahore needed “better visual support”.

The real father of the conserved and restored Gali Surjan Singh was a gent named John Wall, the then Country Director of the World Bank in Pakistan. He had read Kipling and other writers and columnists specialising in Lahore and its history. His first trip was to Old Lahore in 2006 where he went about quoting Chaucer and the glory of old Lahore. What he saw upset him so much that he immediately contacted the Punjab government, reluctant that it was then, and in a way remains in its bureaucratic slumber. John Wall played his cards deftly.

He contacted the German government for funds which was not difficult for him. He then got in contact with the Aga Khan Trust for Culture based in France, who are world leaders in the conservation and restoration of Muslim monuments. Once the expertise and money was lined up he gave the Islamabad-based government a “tweek with a smile” as he put it. Even they were reluctant, but then: “a World Bank tweek is a World Bank tweek”. It worked wonders. They agreed, albeit with reluctance, for they were not paying for this “crazy idea” (as a top bureaucrat put it).

After an initial survey by a Pakistani consultant to the Aga Khan Trust they selected Gali Surjan Singh for conservation and restoration. The Aga Khan insisted that without the participation of house owners they would not take on a project. A process of ‘education’ was undertaken and the gains made clear. So it was that work was started in 2007 under the ‘Sustainable Development of the Walled City Lahore Project (SDWCLP)’. The document stated that “Lahore needed to be saved for it was one of the five wonder cities of the Islamic world”.

Amazingly everyone supported this ‘Demonstration Project’ except the trader classes who have overtaken a majority of old Lahore starting 1947. Before Partition the law restricted them to only 15 percent - a law that still exists. But then traders care least for the law, for they grease the system to perfection. They were supported by the two main political parties who extract ‘political funding’. Not surprisingly the main opposition came from bureaucrats who always wish total control.

So it was that the AKTC undertook a very low profile ‘demonstration project’. The idea was to show the people living inside the old walled city that if they all agreed to conserve and restore their crumbling houses, foreign and local tourism would yield them immense profits. The estimate in WB papers then was that once tourists come old Lahore would earn Pakistan over $2 billion a year. In today’s dollar-rupee value this comes to almost $11.2bn, which is five times more than the total trade undertaken inside the walled city today. So today tourism and trade are sadly pitched against one another.

So slowly this small ‘gali’ (lane) of an unknown ‘mohallah’ (precinct) started coming back to life. It was like a dream come true in a Hollywood film, and very soon over a hundred households approached the AKTC to work on their old houses. As word of the skill of the AKTC spread there was a demand for the Mosque of Wazir Khan, as also the Turkish Royal Hamman at the beginning on entering Delhi Gate, to be saved. Mind you my last visit to this Hammam was with the great writer Intizar Husain. We were invited to a Punjab government reception where the ‘Culture’ Secretary pontificated on nothing. We both sat in semi-shocking silence till Intizar Sahib whispered in my ear: “Sheikh Sahib, I am sad that we have had to see this day”. In those days the ‘Shahi Hammam’ was rented out as a wedding hall.

As work progressed my monthly visits saw this come up slowly. No detail was spared and the highest standards of conservation were followed. This experience led to a lot of local craftsmen being trained in conservation and restoration. Those trained persons come in good stead. In limestone the original walls of the houses were rebuilt and treated wood replaced decaying ones. In 2011 work on Gali Surjan Singh was completed.

With modern bathrooms and amazing kitchens, these small two-marla houses are a picture of beauty. In my view they are classier than the finest modern houses in posh Lahore localities. Visitors immediately expressed surprise, with most shocked over how dare the crumbling old city had better dwellings than them. Such is the real beauty of the old city.

This amazing project was directly responsible in 2012 for the creation of the Walled City of Lahore Authority. An effort was made to convince Members of the Punjab Assembly of the need for proper legislation. Once legally set up, the WCLA started work and to date it has an impressive list to boast of.

But since then just how was Gali Surjan Singh treated? After it was completed in 2011 and for a few years it was a major tourist visiting site. Then the residents started complaining that no maintenance work was being undertaken. The ‘gali’ started to decay. The WCLA got more interested in high profile projects like restoring the Lahore Fort, the Wazir Khan Mosque, and the Shahi Hammam. To add to the glitter they painted the fronts of houses along the Delhi Gate Bazaar as if that was conservation. The poor were, as is the wont among our ruling classes, were forgotten. But then this is no surprise.

But slowly the local press started writing about the complete negligence of old Lahore as the trading classes were building concrete warehouses where once stood historic houses. Of the 12 major gateways, except for Delhi Gate, not a single house in any bazaar, or ‘mohallah’ or ‘gali’ has been restored. As questioning fingers rose the bureaucrats had to act. In the first instance they built a ‘Royal Kitchen’ inside the Lahore Fort. Archaeological and architectural experts seriously questioned this as a violation of Unesco rules.

So the bureaucrats of recent reacted by resorting to a flower displays and bright lights in the only pre-WCLA project. The Seville touch, which probably cost a few thousand rupees, was widely publicised on social media. The reaction, naturally, was admiration, and why not. That is the way as things should be.

The problem now is that the Punjab government funds seem to have flown ‘southwards’ towards the tomb of a ‘pir’ (probably a leader follows him), and on a decaying Muzaffargarh fort. Every monument needs attention, of this have no doubt. But why neglect the poor of Lahore?

There is a need to concentrate on the houses of old Lahore, also on the missing gateways, and surely the missing walls of this majestic ancient city need restoration, as do the numerous ‘galis’ and ‘mohallahs’ inside the remaining 11 gateways. After all that was the reason this authority was created. In order to convert Lahore into a tourist haven, it’s the houses of the poor that matter. Without that all the flowers on earth will not smell so sweet and the light will be meaningless.

Published in Dawn, March 14th, 2021