RAHIM YAR KHAN: While travelling on the Sukkur-Multan motorway (M-5) a white monument suddenly appears and attracts the attention of the travelers on the south eastern side of M-5 between Taranda Muhammad Pannah interchange and Zahirpir interchange.

This is ‘‘Chitti Maseet’ (White Mosque), built by the Ikhtiar Khan Mandhani Abbasi at the end of 18th Century in the village Qadirpur on the Fatehpur Kamal Sammaka link road.

According to a historian of the area, Hassan Mehmood Shaheen, a headmaster at the Government Higher Secondary School, Jajja Abbasian, Khanpur, during previous regime when Makhdoom Hashim Jawan Bakht was the finance minister of Punjab, he saw the dilapidated condition of Chitti Maseet and got detailed information about it from the renowned figures of the area. By that time, its boundary wall and two domes had collapsed and two domes on the entrance side were in poor condition.

Initially, the Punjab Archaeology Department declared it ‘Special Premises’ in March 2019. Later, Jawan Bakht released the funds to the archaeology department to restore the mosque in its actual shape because it was a historical national asset of the Seraiki Waseeb.

Archaeology dept restored the monument to its original shape in 2023

The mosque was completely restored in the fiscal year of 2022-2023 with about Rs30m and additionally an ablution room and washrooms were also constructed.

Though the travelers of the M-5 can see the magnificence of the mosque but because there is no interchange for about 45km between Taranda Muhammad Pannah and Zahirpir, those traveling in their private cars and vehicles can’t visit the mosque even if they want to. Shaheen says there should be access to the mosque for the travelers to increase tourism at the historical mosque.

Shaheen says there are six more historical mosques in tehsil Khanpur which were built by Ikhtiar Khan who established Garhi Ikhtiar Khan town in 1753. The mosques include those at Taranda Madoo Khan near Nawan Kot, Chandni Chowk on N-5, Garhi Ikhtiar Khan, Mai Di Maseet on Khanpur-Zahirpir Road, Purani Masjid in Mohalla Azeem Shah and Ghauspur mosque.

A local senior citizen, Raza Dastgir Khan, says other historical mosques and archaeological sites, including the Islamgarh Fort, Khairgarh Fort and Bhagla Fort of Cholistan with Pattan Minara, Tajgarh, Mao Mubarak, Sardargarh and Ahmedpur Lama of the area should also be restored to save the national assets of the Saraiki region.

Shahbaz Nayyar, a poet from RYK, says worth seeing significant archaeological sites in the district should be preserved to save the thousand years old history as without them, the area would lose its identity.

Punjab Archaeology Department Bahawalpur Sub Divisional Officer (SDO) Muhammad Sajjad said the high-ups of his department had decided to restore historical sites. In the ADP of 2026-2027, there were two sites in Cholistan, which would be restored to their actual shape. However, he did not share the details.

Published in Dawn, April 15th, 2026