Old Wall City of Peshawar

The capital of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan, Peshawar is the largest city of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and according to the 1998 census was the ninth-largest city of Pakistan.  Peshawar is a metropolitan city and the administrative centre and economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. Peshawar derives its name from a Sanskrit word Pushapura which means the city of flowers. Mughal emperor Babar has also mentioned Peshawar as the city of flowers in his memoirs.

Situated in a large valley near the eastern end of the Khyber Pass, close to the Pak-Afghan border. Peshawar is irrigated by various canals of the Kabul River and by its right tributary, the Bara River. Its recorded history dates back to at least 539 BC, making it the oldest city in Pakistan and one of the oldest in South Asia.

 An old portion of this city is known as the walled city of Peshawar. Many of the walls were built here during the British Raj, some Cantonments guarded by barbed wires were added by them. All the surroundings of the walled city were suitable and good enough for the common man to live there. BalaHisar is the most certain mark of the citadel and is the highest place of the city even today.

Following the defeat of the Sikhs in the Second Anglo-Sikh War in 1849, territories in the Punjab were also captured by the British East India Company. During the Sepoy Rebellion of 1857, the 4,000 members of the native garrison were disarmed without bloodshed; the absence of brutality meant that Peshawar was not affected by the widespread devastation that was experienced throughout the rest of British India and local chieftains sided with the British after the incident. British control remained confined within the city walls as vast regions of the Frontier province outside the city were claimed by the Kingdom of Afghanistan. The vast mountainous areas outside of the city were mapped out only in 1893 by Sir Mortimer Durand, foreign secretary of the British Indian government, who collaboratively demarcated the boundary of British-controlled areas with the Afghan ruler at the time, AbdurRahman Khan.

Until the mid-1950s, Peshawar was enclosed within a city wall and sixteen gates. Of the old city gates, the most famous was the Kabuli Gate. In January 2012, an announcement was made by Siraj Ahmed Khan, the Peshawar District Coordination Officer at the time: “In due course of time, all the gates around the old city will be restored.”

Imran Rasheed, an author who has written extensively on the history of Peshawar has explained:

“Old Peshawar was divided into three separate walled communities, Gunj, DhakiNalbandi and SardChah quarters. Under the Sikhs, the Italian mercenary Governor of Peshawar, General Paolo Avitabile, popularly known as Abu Tabela, demolished the walls around these quarters and built a single wall around the old city.”

Dr Raj Wali Shah Khattak has done a good job by writing a book on the life and culture of Walled City of Peshawar. Such a book was needed in the wake of the present geopolitical scenario as many western researchers’ interest had grown after 9/11 to know about the cultural roots of marshal Pashtun race. The book An Intangible Heritage: The Walled City of Peshawar, carries a brief, but comprehensive glimpse of the Pashtun’s life they experienced in Peshawar.

The walled city of Peshawar can be divided into three areas by these gates:

The highest ground centered aroundGorKhatri lies on the East of the channels with Karimpura to its north-west and to its south-west Pipalmandi lies. The old Pipal trees described by the King Babur can be seen here at Pipalmandi. Two brad streets traverse this area besides the smaller lanes and by-lanes. One street starts from ChowkYadgar and reaches to GorKahri. The street splits near to Krimpura and goes to Hashtnagri and Lahori Gates.

The other area would start from Piplamandi and leads towards Ganj and Ekkatut gates. The channel’s joint flow near ChowkYadgar separates this pre-Muslim city from AndroonShehar (inner city), the locality where Mosque Mohabbat Khan is located. An adjunct of this part is formed by the mohalla of DhakkiNalbandi. With the shops of famous Peshawarilungies (turbans) and jewellary, this whole area is high ground.

The third area is defined between KohatiDarwazachanel to QissaKhwani channel that lies at Jahangirpura.  Many believe that this area is named after Mughal Emperor Jahangir who must have developed this area. A well in this area known as Sard Cha (well of cold water) is very famous in this area that is a Mughal era well and is still famous for its drinking water. The walled city of Peshawar continues to have a mutli-ethnic population. Although most of its inhabitants are Pashtuns; they live side by side with Hindko speakers and peoples of other ethnic groups. Persian is widely spoken and there are pockets in the city where the communities speak Urdu and Chitrali languages.

The wall still exists around the city along with the gates. Some of the gates are removed and some are renovated. Names of the gates are: Kabuli Darwaza, DarwazaAndaShehar also known as (Asamai), KachehriDarwaza also famous as Tangsali, RetiDarwaza, RampuraDarwaza, HashtnagriDarwaza, LahoriDarwaza, GanjDarwaza, DarwazaEkkatut, KohatiDarwaza, SarakiDarwaza, Sard Cha Darwaza, SarAsiya or TabibanDarwaza, RamdasDarwaza, DabgariDarwaza and BajauriDarwaza.

According to experts, around 50 heritage sites in and around Peshawar city have been lost owing to lack of public awareness and official negligence and philistinism over the last one and a half decade.

But since the youngest Director of Archaeology & Museums Government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Dr Abdul Samad assumed charge, a lot has been done to restore the lost glory of these historical gates. Currently there are four projects which are focusing on conservation of archaeological sites in and around the walled city.

Talking conservation of these archaeological sites he said, “This includes three in GorKhatri and one in cantonment, Ali Mardan Villa. Apart from that we have proposed a mega project focusing on walled -city of Peshawar and provincial government has committed to release this fund for preservation and conservation of walled city of Peshawar. There will be experts involved from Italy and Belgium to rehabilitate the ancient Peshawar city,”

There were only five archaeological sites which were protected under the Antiquities Act, 1997 in and around the walled -city of Peshawar. The rest of all historic buildings, were either in legal ownership/custody of Auqaf, Evacuee Trust, local government or private land and not under archaeology directorate.

The Directorate of Archeology & Museums have already approached these departments to hand over all the buildings, which are 75 years or older but their existing laws do not permit them. In this regard,  the directorate has proposed a new Antiquities Act 2014, which will bind these departments to consult archaeology directorate before going for any renovation or edition.

Regarding Dillip Kumar’s birth abode, the director said that Dillip Kumar house had been protected under Antiquities Act and Raj Kapoor house would be protected as well.

One of the ADP schemes also includes a Peshawar Walled City Authority to be made, which will be aimed at; Identification and authenticity of the heritage and heritage value of Walled City, Master plan for conservation and restoration of the heritage, Maintenance & Conservation, Promotion of Tourism & Culture through Cultural trails/tours and to plan, develop and create an infrastructure to preserve heritage of Walled City by providing adequate access through streets, roads, safe pipelines for water and sewerage as well as related electricity and communication networks.