im glad some where in pakistan outside of lahore cultueral heritage is maintained.
Footloose, NOS, The News International
Reconstructing hope
AKCSP is ‘rescuing’ the historical heritage of Khaplu through its architecture
The Aga Khan Cultural Service in Pakistan (AKCSP) is doing a commendable service in Khaplu to restore and conserve the cultural heritage of the city. It started working in Khaplu in 1999. In 2000 they restored the historical Astana of Syed Mir Muhammad – a successor of Amir Kabir Syed Ali Hamdani, the first Muslim preacher in Baltistan. The local community with the help of his descendants built this Astana about 300 years ago in his memory. This finest of the Astanas in Baltistan, is situated in Khanqah settlement. The Astana as well as this old settlement was in on the verge of being collapsed in June 1999, when AKCSP took charge of it for rehabilitation and restoration. This project was awarded UNESCO’s Asia-Pacific Heritage Award (2003) for Culture Heritage Conservation.
According to Sher Ghazi, Program Manager AKCSP, the restoration of Astana and the adjacent settlement took six months. “Khanqah is one of the eight old settlements in Khaplu town situated at a height of 2,600 meters, which are still inhabited. Khanqah settlement is home to 40 families”. According to him AKCSP discovered in 1999 that residents of such settlements had started either abandoning them because of deteriorating conditions or were using modern construction material to rebuild their houses in these hundreds of years old settlements. “Both these trends were alarming for environment and heritage. Those who were leaving such settlements started to construct homes on green terraces used to grow grain, fruits and vegetables while usage of modern building material and machinery catalysed the process of deterioration of old and historical buildings. Because all these settlements are situated around historical buildings we want people to known the importance of these buildings and settlements” he tells TNS.
He says that AKCSP is trying to spread awareness among the locals regarding the treatment and significance of traditional building material. So far they have restored two such settlements in Khaplu. “Traditional construction material and unskilled labour was provided by the locals while rest was done by AKCSP. We spent a total of Rs 30,000 only on restoration of a house to its original shape in such settlement” he says. Now, according to Sher Ghazi, there is a greater awareness among the people about the use of traditional materials and maintenance of buildings in their villages. The community members have realised that such buildings can be conserved through simple technical inputs. “Ever since the completion of this project in 2000, it has triggered a community-oriented process in Khaplu to upgrade and improve individual building in the surrounding of traditional settlements.”. AKCSP has also paved roads, constructed public toilets and separate places for washing clothes in these settlements. “Earlier the people used water from the main channel to wash clothes polluting it with detergent and consequently causing health problems to people living down stream” says Ghazi.
Kacho Hussain, a 65 year old resident of this settlement tells TNS that as much as 50 percent of population of this settlements either had migrated or was planning to do so before AKCSP’s intervention in 1999. “Not only the migration from this area has stopped but some of the migrated families have returned to their homes.”
– Aoun Sahi