WAY back in 1980 while passing by the honeymoon lodge of Sir Sultan Mohammad Aga Khan, I was pained to see the neglected barren hillock.

I, therefore, wrote a letter to Dawn about the cruel neglect of a historical site, suggesting plantation on its slope. My letter bore fruit, and the then Aga Khan committee thanked me for pinpointing the matter, and immediately planted some sparsely scattered plants of lignum trees. One can see them today.

However, in 2010 I once again contacted one of the committee members, having acquired the telephone number though the supervisor of the lodge, and suggested that the hillock could be covered with beautiful multi-coloured plants. I offered my humble services and advice about covering the slopes with a colourful garden worthy of this great leader.

He, however, turned down my offer by saying that they had acquired the services of a foreign horticulturalist who could do the needful.

Two years have since passed with no apparent change in the hillock, and the nursery on the top of the hillock stands deserted, devoid of its green cover.

I once again offer my sincere advice and services to the members of the present committee to make it a pleasant honeymoon hilltop to remember the great Aga Khan’s contribution to the cause of Muslims of this subcontinent.

SHUJAUDDIN AHMED Karachi