Govt apathy: Two institutes to document Pindi’s heritage

NCA and FJWU join forces to save old city buildings.

RAWALPINDI: With federal and the provincial authorities neglecting Rawalpindi’s heritage sites, two educational institutes have teamed up to document and preserve the old city buildings.

National College of Arts (NCA) and Fatima Jinnah Women University (FJWU) have announced to set up a Heritage Protection Society to protect historic buildings and promote tourism in the city.

There are around 40 historic buildings in old city area, most of them vacated by Hindus and Sikhs during Partition, but none of them is on the list of protected sites maintained by the Youth Affairs, Sports, Archaeology and Tourism Department of the Punjab government.



The department looks after 17 Gandhara sites situated at Taxila but has not been doing much for the buildings in Rawalpindi city. The Lahore-based department has a sub-office at Taxila but none in old city.

Besides, very little work has been done to preserve the written history of the city, its climate and demography.

Evacuee Trust Property Board (ETPB), which owns most of the temples and historic buildings, is only managing their financial affairs.

Many of the historic buildings and temples have either fallen prey to land mafia or rented out on meagre amounts to traders who have turned them into store rooms. Holy figures and images have been defaced and woodwork damaged.

Many temples were also ransacked and torched by mobs in reaction to Babri Mosque incident in 1992.

NCA plans to restore these structures to their original shape. FJWU, on its part, would interview senior citizens and carry out research work to compile a written history of the city. NCA has contacted philanthropists and organisations to help finance these efforts.

One of the buildings that will be protected under the project is Haveli Sujan Singh.

Talking to The Express Tribune, FJWU Vice-Chancellor Dr Samina Amin Qadir said the city was fast losing its cultural and heritage sites as well as lacking a written history.

“FJWU will interview senior citizens to know and record what they know and how the city was,” she said. Besides, the university will also conduct research to compile city’s history.

Sohail Abid, a traveller cultural researcher, appreciated the NCA efforts and said that there is still time to protect these buildings and save city’s cultural history.

NCA Director Nadeem Umar Tarar said ETPB was a revenue body and maintenance of these buildings and sites was not its mandate. “After the 18th Constitutional Amendment, maintenance of heritage sites is a provincial subject,” he said.



He said the district government should be tasked with preserving the heritage and promoting tourism in the city.

“These buildings are part of our past. The dilapidated condition they are now in reflects our attitude towards our history,” he commented and urged senior citizens, philanthropists and government departments to join in the efforts.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 20^th, 2015.