Wazir Khan Mosque lays derelict, neglected

The 400-year-old renowned Mughal monument Wazir Khan Mosque stands in dire need of restoration and preservation on an emergent basis.

The mosque, situated inside the Dehli Gate of the Walled City, is an exquisite structure that was built in 1634 by Hakim Ilmud Din Ansari, aka Nawab Wazir Khan, a native of Chiniot, who served as Punjab’s viceroy during Emperor Shah Jahan’s reign. Superb calligraphy and the octagonal minarets, one of the earliest of their type in Mughal architecture, are among the mosque’s distinctive features.

Sadly, today the monument stands in a dilapidated condition, surrounded by encroachments. Locals have built houses and shops around the mosque. The sewerage from the surrounding houses has badly damaged the mosque’s walls.

Big cracks can be seen in the mosque’s roof, through which rainwater seeps during the monsoon, accumulating on the mosque’s floor. This renders the mosque useless for worshippers.

Also, the variegated glazed tiles and mosaic work on the walls are fading day by day. The designs, both in enamelled mosaic work and fresco paintings, have almost completely vanished.

The mosque contains 32 hujras in total, where Quran classes used to be held for students.

However, now these rooms are only filled with scraps of broken material and dirt, with plaster ripped off from their ceilings and tiles dislocated from original positions.

The mosque has four big minarets, of which the south eastern is in the worst condition and has started to tilt.

The floor under the main dome of the mosque has also broken at various places, whereas the walls at the mosque’s entrances have decayed and blackened. Also, water fungus can be seen in the pond which worshippers used for ablution.

The need of the hour is initiation of repair and renovation work of the mosque under supervision of high-powered technical administrative experts.

According to sources in the Archaeology Department, the Punjab government had allocated Rs 33 million under the PC1 Plan this year for the mosque’s preservation.

Also, the government had transferred the mosque’s case to the Archaeology Department, providing further Rs 5 million funds to the department for renovation purposes.

A committee of experts was also formed, which was entrusted with the task of supervising the preservation and restoration process.

The department started renovation work in January, under which two roofs of the mosque’s northern side were repaired.

Later in February, the process of renovation was halted on the request of the Walled City director general and Aga Khan Programme director who had some reservations with regards to the renovation process.

The sources further said a high-level steering committee, under the chairmanship of MNA Sardar Ayaz Sadiq, was constituted to decide the ways and means for smooth execution of conservation work of Wazir Khan Mosque. The committee held several meetings at the site and finally decided to resume the conservation work on top priority basis, but only after certain necessary arrangements were made.