http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_6-12-2002_pg7_27
By Ghafar Ali
PESHAWAR: Peshawar, called the city of roses, gardens and fragrance by many historians and rulers in their memoirs, is now becoming a city of dust and filth. It had been the cradle of civilizations and a centre for trade for the past 2000 years. Now its dwellers have lost the old beautiful city, creating a huge social and cultural vacuum. Babur’s city has been transformed into a wasteland, where culture has ceased to flourish and materialism is feeding on its splendid traditions.
It is a fact that as a nation we are neglecting our archaeological sites. This can be seen in and around the city where a number of these sites are in a dilapidated condition. Decaying artefacts of many historic buildings speak volumes of the irresponsible attitude of the people in general and government in particular towards their preservation.
The authorities responsible for the preservation of these sites have lost interest in their upkeep while the common man is ignorant and unaware about the importance of the historic buildings and monuments.
The city has seen the eras of Hindu, Buddhists, Muslim and Sikh cultures. Many invaders and traders left their culture behind. Peshawar was traditionally a city of professionals — its very name describes the skilled people who dealt in different trades. Thus various residential areas and bazaars were named after different trades: mohallah zatgaran (of goldsmiths), Mochi Lara bazaar (of cobblers), Qissakhwani bazaar (of storytellers) and so on.
The city has for a long time enjoyed historical ties with Central Asia and often the same family ruled Peshawar and Kabul. Invaders coming in through the Khyber Pass consistently raided the city. It was a walled city and most of the gates were named after the cities to which these gates faced, like Lahori Gate, Kabuli Gate, Sar Asia Gate, and so on.
“Today almost all of the old gates have been demolished and many of the ancient monuments destroyed. Once called the city of flowers, Peshawar is now a dusty and noisy place with all the ingredients of a modern day city. Who would like to visit a city with monstrous shopping malls, sky scrappers and bargain centres? Certainly, it does not define civilization, by any standard. Most thinking individuals are suffering from a collective amnesia or nostalgia. No active lobbying and no civil body exist here”, an environmental expert said.
Sarhad Conservation Network secretary Adil Zareef recalled that by the end of the eighties, real estate prices had already spiralled beyond imagination. A new breed of entrepreneurs — the “builders” — was born. They took over the old city, demolishing historical structures with brazen impunity. The remnants of the walled city, and the historic gates finally gave in to this aggressive assault of money and rapacity.
Much earlier, in the 1970’s, the city “managers” had cut down the Great (Bunyan) Pipal tree at Shah ji ki Dheri, described by Shin Fa Hian and Hiuen Tsang, the famous Chinese pilgrims and historians who travelled this place in 400 BC. According to Hiuen Tsang, “Its branches are thick and the shade beneath, sombre and deep.” The famous stupas built by Kanishka to the south of the Pipal tree have also disappeared.
Another historic tree dating back to the Kanishka period was cut down only recently in Ander Shehr. “The timeless Chowk Yadgar building was demolished to make another building. The original elegant Shaheed mazaar at Qissakhwani has been given a ‘new’ marbled surface with ugly canopies. They are also ignoring the ‘Old Panj Tiraths’, which is described in The Gazetteer: ‘As the name would indicate, there are five holy bathing places or ‘tirthas’, shaded by some sacred pipal trees of great age. The Brahmins trace its origin to the five sons of Pandu — the heroes of the Mahabharata … the site is a place of great veneration to the Hindu communityy’,” Mr Zareef remarked, adding one can go on lamenting the official apathy towards heritage. The Mohabat Khan Mosque, built by the Mughals is decaying. “These are our prized historical possessions that are being deliberately defaced. Why?” Mr Zareef further said the Deans hotel (where renowned celebrities like Professor Arnold Toynbee, Rudyard Kipling, Sir Winston Churchill (as a young soldier journalist on his way to Malakand), Quaid-e-Azam, King Nadir Shah of Afghanistan (in 1929) and many others stayed), built in 1913 on 7.21 acres with sprawling lawns, has now been sold to a private party, which plans to use it for a business venture.
It is not sensible for a nation to let disappear from the face of the earth forever its monuments, which are the living proof of its past glory and reminders that it can again achieve that glory if it works for it. Without these monuments no one can make our younger generation believe that it had a glorious past and it is not inferior to other nations of the world.