ARCHITECTURE CONSERVATION

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Walled City Lahore

The city of gardens Lahore is a major city of Pakistan and it has always been the center of
attraction for the tourists all around the world. Lahore is famous for its cultural heritage and
amazing people with lovely hearts which is why it is often known as Zinda-Dilane-Lahore
(City of lively hearts) meaningthe city of big hearted lovely people. When one plans to visit
Lahore then it is question of where the tourist is going to get the real taste of its culture and
traditions in a big enough city which has almost doubled its area in last 12-14 years and is
still expanding. The answer to that is Walled City Lahore which refers to the interior part of
Lahore and is also known as Androon Shehr and Old city. The Walled City is the true
depiction of the citys culture and its heritage and it certainly is the place to visit when you
are planning to travel to Lahore.

Its pretty hard to tell the specific origin of Lahore but according to the carbon dating
evidence of archaeological findings the time period may start as early as 2000 BC and Wall
city is the place from where it originated. Walled City is the section of Lahore which was
fortified by a wall during Mughal regime in order to restrict the movement of heavy invading
forces and when the British annexed Punjab in 1849 they destroyed the city walls and
replaced them with gardens some of which are still there. The access to walled city is still
gained through the 13 ancient gates of city which are Bhatti gate, Lahori gate, Mori gate,
Shah Alami gate, Mochi gate, Akbari gate, Delhi gate, Yakki gate, Shernwala gate, Kashmiri
gate, Masti gate, Roshani gate and Taxalia gate. The Walled city covering 2560000 square
meter of area and with population of around 200,000 has a whole life inside it and with its
historical buildings it takes us back in time and tells us a story about ancient living. The
narrow streets, the old roads , the houses which are two or three stories tall with flat roofs,
overhanging windows and wooden balconies all are historical and differs it from the outer
city and this is why it is a very important part of city.

There are many places to visit in the Wall city and it also has many big historical structure
like Lahore Fort and Badshahi Mosque which were built during the Mughal rule and are very
important for the city as they still stand and a lot of local and foreigners still visit them every
day. Apart from Lahore Fort and Badshahi Mosque there is Data Darbar (the tomb of Saint
Hazrat Syed Abul Hassan Bin Usman Bin Ali Al-Hajweri), Suneri Mosque, Doongi Masjid,
the Masjid of Mariyam Zamani and the tomb of Maharaja Ranjit Singh of the Sikh Empire. It
also includes few other tombs and many Havelis as well which are Nisar Haveli, Haveli
Barood Khana, Salman Sirhindiki Haveli, Mubarak Begum Haveli Bhatti Gate, Chuna Mandi
Havelis, Haveli of NauNihal Singh, Dina Naths Haveli and Mubarak Haveli.

The walled city is perfect for a tourist who loves the ancient architectures and are looking for
some fascinating work of art from the old times and for the ones who are into the history of
subcontinent or Mughal rule as there is a lot to learn about it from here but it is also for the
people who loves food because the walled city of Lahore has a lot of local Lahori food to
offer which one just cannot resist to eat when they smell it in the streets,and also not to
ignore the people of Walled city who will treat a tourist as a guest and would love to
cooperate with them. So the tourists does not only enjoy the architectural beauty or
historical learning of it but also get to gel with the people of walled city and gets to eat
amazing food. Walled City is very important for the subcontinent as it depicts the culture
back then and has played an important role in the history and it definitely is a tourist delight.

Walled City Of Lahore Is

Famous Historical Places
In Lahore :
It has been one year that the Walled City Of Lahore is trying hard to

bring that soft and real image of Pakistan. They have been carrying out

promotional activities so that awareness can be created with regard to

the cultural heritage of Lahore. The Walled City Of Lahore has been

striving to bring more and more foreign tourists in Lahore place.

Positives of Promotional
activities of The Walled City Of
Lahore:
With the help of these activities, a number of foreign tourists will
for sure be improved.

From Oct 2015 till March 2016, this time, was counted as the best
tourist time because, in this season, the number of foreign tourists was
drastically increased. In the last 6 months, numbers have been jumping
and rising day by day. All of this has happened because of the attempts
made by the Walled City Of Lahore.

If we talk about the last one 15 days then we saw that by far 50
independent tourists from the foreign sites visited Lahore. The
numbers of both local as well foreign tourists are increasing.

It is because of the professional and well-trained team of the

Walled City Of Lahore that they are getting their desired and as
expected results.
 The Walled City Of Lahore has also opened up the old heritage sites
for people. They have restored the opening of old monuments.

Strong linkages are now been making with some of the non-
government organizations. WCLA is also collaborating with the social
media so that local and foreign can get to know more about the
positive side of Pakistan and especially Lahore.

Three of the MoU have been signed between Walled City Of Lahore
and Avari Hotel and Park lane. In this way, they will also be playing
their due role in creating awareness among people. Sooner, PC Hotel
will be signing a MoU with the Walled City Of Lahore too. ETPB MoU is
in the process these days. This agreement will be let Sikh and Hindu
pilgrims to make frequent visits to the cultural sites of Lahore.

In the end, Hopefully, with the help of these activities, the Walled City
Of Lahore will bring some promising change in the image of Pakistan.

Walking Through History | The Walled City of Lahore:

The Old City, or the Walled City of Lahore is in the northwestern part of Lahore, Punjab.
The visitor is given access to the city by 13 gates, few of them being Bhati Gate, Lahori Gate
and Roshnai Gate.

As he visits the Walled City, Razi Rumi shares these rich moments and his thoughts while
walking through streets of Lahore:
Mughal architecture: Lahore Forts beautiful wall with original frescoes. Has survived amid
historys atrocities and governments negligence.
Lahores heritage: Inside the Faqir Khana Museum, Bhatti Gate. Some of the carpets are
from the Emperor Shah Jahans era

Imagine living in a room with such amazing frescos A hidden corner of Haveli Naunehal
Singh, walled city of Lahore.

Wouldnt you love to have balcony like this? Spotted in walled city Lahore.
A majestic structure that survives the vagaries of time .With those breathtaking frescos
Haveli Nonehal Singh, Lahore

A hidden jewel in the densely populated walled city of #Lahore. Haveli Nonehal Singh,
Victoria School since 150 years.
 Changing sociology of the walled city
The sociology of the walled city of Lahore keeps changing every time a shift in
history occurs. Almost 1,000 years ago not a single Muslim existed in the city till the
first Sufi saint, Shah Ismail, arrived. From the lands to the West migrants in various
guises keep coming, altering forever the gene pool of our city.

Last week I parked my car in the lane just opposite where once the actor Dev Anand
lived at Bhati Chowk, near the house of the late Dr 'dabkharraba' Bokhari. A few
hundred yards into Bazaar Hakeeman, once known as 'Guzar Talwara', I turned to the
right where once lived poet Allama Iqbal. They probably called him 'Balla' then. As I
proceeded it amazed me that where once everyone spoke the exquisite 'Bhati' Punjabi
language, people were speaking Pushto. I stopped, took a turn into another narrow
lane and stopped besides a 'tandoor' where long Afghani 'roti' was being produced.
This was not the Lahore we knew in our youth. This was another Lahore, a totally
alien sociology.

Nearly 5,000 years ago when the city was a small hamlet surrounded by a high mud
wall, the first Aryans came, and then came the forces from the land of Faras, and then
the white people presumably from Central Asia. We also had invaders from as far
away as Egypt. The hungry Afghans, fierce and ruthless, have always been coming,
pillaging and stealing our food, our women and our precious gold and jewels and
other valuables. The city tolerated them, and slowly absorbed them as one of their
own. Today we are, probably, incapable of appreciating the colossal change that the
walled city is undergoing, principally because we lack the educational depth to tackle
the change in our sociology. Our governments are inept, their minds never going
beyond a few personal comforts that the poor end up paying for.

Research tells us that the population of the walled city has been declining after a surge
in 1947. In 1971, it had a population of almost 200,000 persons. In Akbar the Great's
days it was recorded as being near 300,000 persons. In an area of 2.5 square
kilometres with about 20,000 buildings, the walled city has a web of narrow lanes and
streets equaling exactly 128 kilometres. Between 1971 and 1981, the population
declined by over 15,000 persons as the greatest enemy of our history and traditions
the trading community started taking over major portions of residential areas
to build illegal godowns and warehouses, what to speak of shopping areas for
wholesale businesses. Our political leaders, backed by our ruthless bureaucrats, let
businesses grow deep into old residential areas. Lahore was betrayed like never
before.
Attempts to rectify the situation have failed. On the political front our 'concerned
citizens' and our NGOs, whom I have no hesitation in calling 'fashionable
degenerates', are least interested. Our MPAs are a disgrace, for they have failed to
introduce the 'Walled City of Lahore Protection Act 2010'. My 'deep throat'
information is that Shahbaz Sharif has actually thrown it away some place in Raiwind.
For him, conservation is bad for his 'trading' constituency.

Today the population that resides permanently inside the walled city is almost 132,500
persons, of whom nearly 60 per cent are Afghan refugees and Internally Displaced
Persons from the northern-western areas because of the Taliban troubles. For all you
know, the enemy is entrenched firmly within, strongly placed inside the walled city.
Every morning thousands of cars and motorcycles and bus passengers invade the
walled city to trade and do business. The functioning population crosses over 250,000
persons. Late in the evening, they leave in droves for the faraway residential colonies,
leaving behind the poorest of the poor. The wretched of the earth are left to their
elements. The original 'Lahori' population of Lahore has almost all left their old city
houses for these 'posh' residential colonies. When it gets dark, the people of the walled
city speak, in a majority, Pushto. Such is the sociology of the walled city of Lahore,
little that we care to study it.

I am confident the average reader is not bothered, for he has nothing to do with the
reality of the old walled city. The same is the case with the 'sustainable' Lahore Walled
City Project, which sustains itself by reprinting old useless books. 'Progress' they call
it. After all history and antiquity is best left in books or newspaper columns. The
reality of the walled city is much more appalling that meets the eye.

As I walked through the old bazaar, past Chowk Jhanda inside Mori Gate and headed
towards an eastward drift in narrow lanes, I noticed that the shoe business has taken
over major portions of the northern side of the old city. In the congested bazaar,
Pathans pushed carts full of shoes or shoe accessories. Cobblers sweat away in small
factories that feed the entire Punjab and beyond with every type of footwear.

I went over the garbage bins, for that is the best barometer of city life. An old walled
city man observed me and came over with a classic Lahori remark: You have your
shoes on, what are you looking for? I laughed and told him that I was studying how
people like him had thrown their history away. He relaxed and invited me for tea. We
dwelt on this emotive issue for some time and left promising to return.

Over half of all garbage is leather cuttings and waste. The very soil is being poisoned.
The Afghans and Pathans are very poor and, therefore, cheap labour that traders
exploit by providing cheap housing. One day, not in the far future, I will not be
surprised that chaste Lahori Punjabi will not be spoken by the children in the streets of
the walled city. I hope I am wrong. This is a reality we close our eyes to, and all
because our political rulers are scared of our bullying traders, whose total tax returns,
so a friend informs me, does not cross an average of Rs150 per residing person of the
walled city.

This is the sociology that has emerged. My view is that the walled city has been taken
over by ruthless traders expanding at an amazing speed. Our government deliberately
gives the impression that they are incapable of handling them. The legislation to
reverse this trend they are not interested in introducing. The end -- very end -- result is
that the extremist elements have entrenched themselves. They can easily lay their
hands on any acid or chemical or electronic gadgetry that they might need. Inside
internet shops abound, all run by Afghans and people from the tribal areas. Touching
them will mean touching the business community that plagues the walled city and our
history.

In such circumstances, it comes as no surprise that the people who have supported the
project to make sense of the walled city have pulled back, not that it bothers the
bureaucrats or politicians like Shahbaz Sharif. The World Bank provided funds for the
old walled city, nave that they are. There is a need to study the sociology before
anything of substance is undertaken. That is why the business community must be
educated to leave and find new abodes. The tide of time is against them in the walled
city, unless the programme is to reduce it to ruins.

Traffic on Walled City road stretch banned:

LAHORE: The Walled City of Lahore Authority (WCLA) has banned entry of all sorts of traffic
from Dehli Gate to Kotwali Chowk from 8am to 8pm daily for an indefinite period, allowing
public entrance to the area on foot alone.

The decision has been taken to ease mobility of the pedestrians, including many tourists visiting
the newly restored buildings.

Officials say a special auto-rickshaw service inscribed/painted with Mughal art will be started at
this half kilometre long and 30-foot wide main road stretch in a bid to promote tourism.

Besides this, a rent-a-cycle service (Rs50 for a couple of hours) is also being introduced so that
the individual tourists could avail themselves of the facility of cycle ride, they say.

Rickshaw and cycle ride will be introduced

Actually the narrow stretch, from Dehli Gate to Kotwali Chowk and onward, has almost
become a constant point of traffic congestion causing a great deal of inconvenience to
pedestrians, residents and tourists to move in a number of streets linking it. Now we have
pedestrianised this stretch, WCLA Director (Marketing, Tourism and Culture) Asif Zaheer told
Dawn on Tuesday.

He said the WCLA officials had placed barriers to stop entrance of the traffic at various places. A
free-parking lot had been established outside Delhi Gate so that the residents, traders and visitors
could park their vehicles outside.

He said WCLA had also approved Mughal art design to be painted on the open-air auto-
rickshaws that would soon start plying on the road for tourists visiting the area restored by the
authority under a pilot project of the Walled City Projects phase-1.

Under this project, WCLA has restored/conserved 860 properties, including 560 residential and
300 commercial buildings, situated at 57 streets of the target area, he said.

Mr Zaheer claimed that none of the residents opposed closure of traffic on the road.

He said after restoration, a number of buildings facades, including main Dehli gate had also
been lit up.

He requested the people to cooperate with the WCLA administration in maintaining traditional,
cultural and historical beauty of the Walled City.

Published in Dawn, September 18th, 2014

Traffic a nuisance for

Walled City residents
LAHORE
Vehicular traffic is declared as a nuisance for walled city and its residents,
which should be controlled and managed effectively to save the citys
culture, heritage and traditions.
This was decided in a joint meeting of the Walled City Lahore Authority
(WCLA) and Lahore Conservation Society/The Lahore Project held on
Thursday. The meeting was held under the banner of Mohalla Bazee at
Koocha Chowdhry Mohammad Siddiq, Delhi Gate. Those attended the
meeting included Kamil Khan Mumtaz (Architect/LCS), Noshin Zaidi (WCLA),
Ali Islam Gill (WCLA), H. M. Irfan (resident), Imarana Tiwana (Architect /LCS)
and many others.
After revising the decisions and points raised in the previous meetings it was
unanimously decided that as a preliminary step all the problems of the
selected mohalla would be identified. Secondary approach will be prioritising
the problems identified so that only those complications can be dealt with.
All the participants agreed to identify the problems existing in the selected
mohalla of Koocha Chowdhry Mohammad Siddiq. Major problems identified
are vehicular traffic nuisance and lack of effective control and management,
lack of infrastructure including sewerage and solid waste management,
instability of socio-economic conditions and provision of appropriate
livelihoods for the residents including the empowerment of increased
number of educated women, structural conservation of historically significant
dilapidated houses and provision of access to the emergency vehicles.
A Community Based Organisation (CBO) of Koocha Chowdhry Mohammad
Siddiq renamed as Zaki Welfare Societys members participated actively in
the meeting by presenting efforts carried out previously and assured of
furthering of this practice by dividing the duties assigned by the Mohalla
Bazee representatives. Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN) and Walled
City of Lahore Authoritys (WCLA) representatives presented their services as
of documented plans of the selected pilot area in the form of Right One (R1)
and Right Two (R2) clusters and assured that these urban documentations
would be handed over and discussed with the local community in the
meetings being organised in the coming week.

ANDROON SHEHAR: Walled city of Lahore

Androon Shehar Lahore or Old Lahore is the heart of Lahore. Its cultural property is in the form of forts,
gateways, mosques, residential buildings, tombs and palaces. Walled city and the thirteen gates is
another historical heritage we have. The gates are named after the places they are located in or after a
significant building in their vicinity. Old Lahore is facing plenty of problems to which the government of
Pakistan has been greatly ignorant. The problem of infrastructure in old Lahore is one of the major
economic issues there. People in the walled city have just adopted themselves to the way of life in old
Lahore.
Life in Androon Lahore is difficult and different compared to the life in new Lahore. The infrastructure
facilities are not provided which is a major hindrance for the people there. Infrastructure facilities
include proper sewerage system, roads, electricity, telephone lines, transportation and proper waste
disposal. Infrastructure facilities like proper waste disposal and sewerage system are of little or no
existence in the walled city. People residing in these areas are the only ones to suffer and they complain
that more attention is being paid by the government to the people in the areas of Lahore such
as, Defence, Gulberg, Cantt, Johar Town, etc.

In this modern time little or no work could be carried out without electricity. Pakistan has been
suffering load shedding for the past 3 years. Cities like Lahore, Karachi, and Islamabad suffer less load
shedding compared to the other cities in Pakistan. The average amount of load shedding in Lahore is 8 to
10 hours in a day. In the walled city it is 14 to 16, this explains the difference. Electricity results as a
major hindrance in their work.
People claimed that several issues affect their income out of which electricity and narrow roads
play the most important role. Shops that are a little large in size use generators, which itself is not
feasible because of the rising prices of petrol, and others use ups or work without electricity. No proper
transportation facilities are there. Car parking is a major problem. People have to park their cars on main
roads which again results in traffic jams. There sales keep low because people avoid coming into the
market without their vehicles. The sales vary every month due to which workers hired are not paid fixed
salary. Many of the people even quit their business in search of jobs because of the loss they suffer and
many start duel jobs.

A major infrastructural facility that abides many of us to enter the area is the proper sewerage
system and waste disposal. No waste disposal facilities are there. As the roads are narrow the waste is
just thrown out of the house or in a nearby place that becomes a waste disposal area for many living
there. The odor of the waste is unbearable. Despite it being a business hub, Androon Shehr Lahore is
despised of the modern luxuries of he world. Walled city is a part of Lahore and the technological
advances should be made there too along with the advances in new Lahore. There should and must be
no distinction.