Callous neglect decimating Karachi’s heritage, warn experts

Karachi is passing through a critical phase with regard to heritage preservation, as our heritage is being decimated and this is resulting from callous neglect, a seminar was told on Tuesday.

Amir Chaudhry, chairman of the Karachi chapter of the Institute of Architects, Pakistan was addressing ‘Preserving Karachi’s Heritage: Challenges and Opportunities’ at a local hotel.

In his welcome note, he said heritage buildings gave us a sense of place, and it should be our maximum endeavour to work tirelessly to preserve our heritage. “This can only be achieved through pragmatic dialogue.”

He lamented that a long neglect had brought the city to the brink of disaster, since it was growing with rapid pace but without any direction.

“There’s a need to initiate dialogue and learn from peers all over the world in order to contribute to the urgent task of bettering this city.”

Henry Squire, partner at Squire and Partners, a third-generation architectural practice in London, said: “Heritage and modernity work together. Heritage is more than just preserving buildings. It is about cultural identity.”

He said people wanted to pursue local heritage in an age of globalisation, adding that architectural contemporary expression and heritage should work together, as modern technology could help us re-imagine things.

“Context is the most important thing in architecture, so if I am designing a building in Karachi, it would be different from designing a building in London.”

The opening remarks were followed by panel discussions. The first one involved Squire, town planner Arif Hasan and British architect Hamish Brown. ‘Heritage: International Context’ was moderated by Hameed Haroon, CEO of the Dawn Media Group.

Haroon said that these matters should be incorporated in the curriculum. “We have to be practical and save what needs to be saved. We need to have a look at our region and try to have architecture.”

Hasan said that in Karachi, we had moved from housing to retailing and commercialisation, adding that things were rapidly changing on account of a degraded environment.

During his talk later on, he decried the absence of appropriate laws as well as weak implementation of the existing ones, whereby certain capitalist syndicates were wreaking havoc on heritage and environment.

As a corollary to that, Marvi Mazhar, founder and principal architect at Marvi Mazhar & Associates, described the unlawful demolition of the Jufel Hurst School, a heritage building in Saddar Town, within three hours.

She asked how one could just trespass into a building with a bulldozer and demolish the structure. There is no law on earth that would allow such a thing, she said.

The second panel discussion – ‘Heritage: Karachi Context’ – was moderated by Tariq Hasan, and the panellists included Dr Noman Ahmed, Dr Kaleemullah Lashari, AR Fazal Noor and Agha Maqsood Abbas.

Dr Ahmed of the Department of Architecture and Planning at the NED University asked: “Can heritage conservation become a business? If it evolves into a business, then perhaps it would be a better state of affairs.”

Abbas, the director general of the Sindh Building Control Authority, was of the opinion that controversies between successive provincial and local governments had delayed important projects.

He emphasised on devising a new strategic and master plan for the city. “The listing criteria for heritage buildings were finalised only three years ago, but they should be revisited and opinions of all stakeholders should be sought on how to preserve and conserve the city’s heritage.”

Noor, an urban specialist, described the problems arising in the city from the mass influx of Muslims from the other side of the dividing line and the mass exodus of Hindus from what is now Pakistan.

He traced the history of Karachi from the earliest times when the city was a sight of hunter-gatherers and how, over the centuries, fishermen’s and agro-based communities emerged.

The third panel discussion – ‘Prevailing Laws for Heritage Buildings and Districts’ – was moderated by Ramiz Baig, and the panellists included Hasan, Dr Ahmed, Marvi and Haider Waheed.

They highlighted the rigidity of laws and lack of stakeholders’ involvement during the process. They also emphasised on the need to motivate people for preservation of heritage buildings.

Karachi Mayor Waseem Akhter said: “Architects play a key role in preservation of heritage. There is a need to address urban recognition and suitability of heritage and the challenges associated with it. We are [trying] to harmonise the efforts of preservation. The state has limited resources, so public-private partnership has to play a pivotal role.”