Destruction of Kalma Chowk

[Lahore_Real_Estate]

The flyover the totalitarian Khadim-e-Aala has inflicted upon the hapless residents of this city in place of the martyred Kalma Chowk is not only an eyesore but fails to solve the traffic problems in the area

We as a nation have become an insensitive lot. We kill sitting governors for suggesting that a certain law was not in accordance with Islam and feel outraged when an Ahmedi says As-Salaamu-Alaykum (peace be upon you) to us (though to our credit not when a Christian or a Hindu or even an atheist says so) but there is not even a whimper of a protest when a masterpiece of Islamic art — one of the very few in Pakistan — with the calligraphy of the Kalma in Kufic script is deliberately destroyed and replaced with a concrete monstrosity of a flyover that has destroyed that entire area. To add insult to injury, a cheap miniature imitation of the aforesaid piece of art is affixed at one end of the newly christened ‘Kalma Flyover’.

For the longest time I could not figure out why there were no protests against the Punjab government for this desecration of the holiest words of Islam. It turns out now that the mullahs never really cherished the piece of art. Sensitivity and aesthetics have no appeal for the mullahs in Pakistan whether in the public sphere or in personal life. On that note, have you ever seen a decent and presentable mullah in our country? These shabbily dressed, obese halwa-consuming miserable specimens of humanity are incapable of appreciating aesthetics. Sadequain and Gulgee hold no charm for them. The irony is that they have shunned the magnificent heritage that Islamic civilisation affords. Our boorish chief minister Punjab shares with them this worldview. In fact, his view extends beyond just absolute contempt for aesthetics. He is a committed enemy of the environment and proper town planning in his own right. Khadim-e-Aala Punjab stands at the opposite end of the spectrum from tree huggers; he is a tree killer. He is also largely responsible for the traffic chaos we see in the city today.

The flyover the totalitarian Khadim-e-Aala has inflicted upon the hapless residents of this city in place of the martyred Kalma Chowk is not only an eyesore but fails to solve the traffic problems in the area. It seems as if the Khadim-e-Aala drew the plans himself and did not consult any town planner or engineer. There are no proper exit or entry points for the said flyover. The approach from either side mixes slow and fast moving traffic. Meanwhile, the side road in front of the Daewoo Station and the Honda Service Shop is being converted into an exit for the Main Boulevard. This is likely to cause problems for parking and Daewoo pick and drop in the area.

I for one have my doubts about how stable a construction the flyover really is. Rumour has it that the engineer responsible for the monstrosity when first told the timeline said I can only make a flyover out of cardboard in that time. Now I do not like to believe in rumours but every time I am stuck in traffic underneath the flyover or stuck in slow moving traffic above, I involuntarily start repeating all the prayers I know.

Under this present chief minister and his unholy obsession with concrete, we are slowly but surely losing our city forever. Gone are the trees that provided shade for many years. Justice Umar Ata Bandial of the Lahore High Court, while hearing the arguments in a case pertaining to this flyover, asked the government’s counsel what he was going to tell his children of what butterflies were or how dragonflies used to come out at twilight.

Under the present chief minister’s reign of terror a massive genocide of butterflies, dragonflies and ladybirds has been effected in Lahore. In many ways, Shahbaz Sharif reminds me of Colonel Miles Quaritch from ‘Avatar’. The problem with these unbalanced characters in positions of power is that in their zeal and a pigheaded belief that only they are right, irreversible damage is done to the very people and causes they claim to serve with good intentions. This is a burden that the residents of Lahore have to bear.

Time is of the essence for our town planners to get serious and model our cities so as to best utilise existing space in an environmentally friendly way. We owe it to posterity.