The (Ongoing) Rape of My City

Conservation has become an undesirable dirty word in Pakistan. Mere mention of the dreadful word sends our officials into a fit. A recent example is the decision of the University of Peshawar to build yet another cement and steel monstrosity on the site of a century old Botanical Gardens on the campus of Islamia College in Peshawar.

In the shrill debate between the conservationists and the proponents of the tear-them-down and pave-them-over mentality, the importance of the place in question gets lost in the volley of claims and counterclaims. I do not think we should preserve every old place no matter how ancient looking. The country simply does not have the resources to preserve everything that is old or remotely significant. But the Botanical Gardens at Islamia do not fall in that category. To pave over these gardens is to trample over and destroy part of our living history.

Two issues need to be elaborated. One is the significance of these Gardens and the other is the general cavalier attitude of our officials towards history. Let us look at the historic significance of the gardens first.

The Botanical Gardens in question were laid out, as far as I can gather, after the construction of the main college building, the Collegiate School and the hostels on the main Campus Road between 1913 and 1918. They were to serve as a research laboratory for the Department of Botany. They were also meant to provide an enchanting place in close proximity to the main college building. In 1953 when I entered Islamia the gardens were already splendidly mature.

From this laboratory Dr. Nawazish Ali Qazilbash, the long time chairman of the department and the man who gave shape to them in the 1930’s and 1940’s, went on to identify a new species of artemesia plant. Dr. Qazilbash and the Botanical Gardens were immortalized when the new species was given the name artemesia qazilbashi. This brought worldwide fame to him and his gardens and also earned him a coveted D.Sc. from Punjab University.

It was also from these gardens that Dr. Shamsul Islam, the stately and gentle teacher and scientist, developed a new hybrid of wheat that had the potential to double the yield per plant. And it was also here in these gardens that these two great teachers and scientists played a cat-and-mouse game with each other.

Dr. Qazilbash, despite his towering stature, was at times petty and arrogant. He could not tolerate anyone in the department to outshine him or his accomplishments. Somehow Dr. Shamsul Islam’s research plants started getting trampled and uprooted from his section of the gardens. Dr. Islam scattered his plants in different parts of the garden and kept track of them with the help of a secret location map. Dr. Hassan Din and Dr. Faridi were two other giants who contributed to the field of botany from these gardens.

The second issue, a much broader one, is gradual disappearance of green spaces from the campuses of the Islamia College and the University. A casual walk through the campus would prove my point. The lawns in the vicinity of Islamia College Mosque and Khyber Union have been gobbled up by unsightly buildings that are not in harmony with the basic architecture of the College. The same is true of the crumbling building next to the library. The open spaces on both sides of the main walkway to the college in front of Hardinge Hostel are also gone.

One sees the same pattern on the campus of the university also. One look at the new University Museum by the main administration block would turn any sensitive stomach. I am sure the great Sahibzada Abdul Qayum, the founder of Islamia, would be turning in his grave by having that fortress-looking monstrosity named after him. The relentless building of hostels in the open spaces along the north campus road of Islamia is another example.

I realize that by their very nature institutions must grow and that provisions have to be made for future growth and expansion. I also realize that it is incumbent upon us, the custodians of the institutions, to balance expansions with architectural integrity of the institution. Do we have to accommodate every new proposed building at the expense of the architectural integrity of the institution?

This dilemma has been faced by many leading institutions in this country and also abroad. Some of the institutions have drawn a line where no more expansion is allowed and if there is desperate need for space they go off campus or built a satellite campus elsewhere. Why not build a satellite campus of Peshawar University on the outskirts of the City or say on Kohat Road? Or build a new satellite away from Peshawar campus in Akora Khattak, the home of the famous Pushtu poet of the 18th century Khushal Khan Khattak. Or in the districts of Charsadda or Mardan? Why keep expanding within unyielding boundaries of an already crowded campus? There is just no more room to crowd an already crowded campus without destroying its historic significance or its time-honored architecture.

What we see on the campus is the extension of the same neglectful attitude towards history that we have been witnessing in and around the City itself. I am pained by the cavalier and we-know-best attitude of our leaders and officials. In their rarefied world there is no room for dissent or public debate on issues of import. A cursory look at the hair-brained expansions of the recent past would prove my point. The relentless building and re-building and re-re-building of Chowk Yadgar (the center city square) and the destruction of the last remnant of the old city wall near Hashtnagri are just two examples. My long distance lament was published in the form of an essay ‘The Rape of My City’ in the Frontier Post in July 1997. Six years later, the rape continues unabated.

But all is not lost. The Frontier province has a governor with a keen sense of civic responsibility. Iftikhar Hussain Shah is not afraid to stand up to vested interests. The widening of the city and cantonment roads and relocation of the graves of certain dubious ‘babas’ (saints) and mosques is a good example. So are his laudable efforts for the preservation of Gorkhatree citadel within the old city. Perhaps as Chancellor of the University he would intervene by using his enormous power of persuasion or his danda or stick to save the Botanical Gardens from their ignominious demise.

Let us hope and pray.

Postscript: The governor after listening to concerned citizens of Peshawar has ordered a moratorium on all building activity on the campuses of Islamia College and the University of Peshawar.

(Dr. Sayed Amjad Hussain is a professor of surgery at the Medical College of Ohio and an op-ed columnist for the daily Blade of Toledo Ohio. He is the author of four books on the culture, history and linguistic legacy of Peshawar, including A Short History of the Frontier Town of Peshawar.)