City of Ruins

            (FROM DAWN)

A lack of awareness, resources and initiative is precipitating the ruin of Peshawar’s built heritage.

At the heart of Peshawar’s walled city lies Gorgathree, a cluster of antiquated buildings on a raised mound. A vestige of the Mughal era, the monument is said to be the only extant serai in Peshawar Valley. Previously the residence of Ranjit Singh’s governor Avitabile, Gorgathree boasts a unique set-up: a Sikh temple rests amidst a quadrangle building with the remains of the cells of a caravan serai. Gates on the eastern and western sides of the compound flank British barracks dating from 1912. Despite having served as a fire brigade bell tower and station, these barracks are still standing. Moreover, British civil servants established a police station, a kutchery and several other structures in the premises of Gorgathree.

But most of these have been demolished. Excessive pollution has marred the existing structures while the view from Gorgathree on to Peshawar city has been blocked by several homes and high-rises. Worse still, a slew of new construction, including a wedding hall, a mosque and a landscaped garden stand out from the historic building, different as they are in age and architecture. Now, Gorgathree is merely used as a short cut by indifferent locals.

The historic charm of Gorgathree was damaged in the 1990s when structural interventions such as a wedding hall and mosque that did not relate to the Mughal, Sikh or British period marred the original structure of the monument. A year ago, a bastion was removed from the monument during the widening of a road under the direction of the provincial government. An official explains that since Gorgathree was damaged by that action, “an FIR was registered against those involved in the destruction of the bastion. But no action has been taken so far.” Instead of being preserved by the City Development and Municipal Department (CDMD), Gorgathree suffered again when the CDMD took charge of the site and initiated a renovation project that included the launch of a Mughal-style garden at the protected site.