We don’t really regard the Walled City of Lahore as it should be regarded, and we are somehow completely unaware of the value of the ancient architecture and heritage we have in this precious area. This is the reason that we continue to erect buildings illegally in the beautiful Walled City, flouting the bans imposed by the government.
The Walled City of Lahore needs to be preserved and its beauty and splendour must be maintained for the coming generations to see what ancient Lahore looked like and in what sort of houses our forefathers used to live.
I just came to know through a news source that the Lahore High Court (LHC) has stayed construction of 136 underdevelopment, yet illegal, buildings in the Walled City, as pointed out by the Walled City of Lahore Authority (WCLA). One hundred and thirty-six illegal buildings, really? The number speaks volumes about how recklessly we are tearing apart the sheen of the Walled City of Lahore.
The WCLA had moved the LHC to take action against those responsible for the illegal developments. Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah of the LHC heard the petition and told the authority to stop construction on illegal buildings and ordered the completion of relevant records by February 16.
The developers of these buildings are chiefly to blame because their greed has apparently made them short-sighted to the point that they are completely blind to the value of the heritage they are currently busy destroying.
All the great cities of the world are great precisely because they have meticulously preserved their heritage. Lahore is the cultural heart of Pakistan, and it deserves better than this. I understand how important for all of us ‘urbanisation’ is. But we cannot urbanise at the expense of what makes us great. We need to comprehend our responsibility and stop destroying the Walled City for our own personal gains. We are, each of us, personally to blame.
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