Begum Shahi Mosque faces structural threats amid seepage, encroachments

LAHORE, Aug 06 (APP): The historic Begum Shahi Mosque, one of the oldest surviving Mughal-era monuments in city, continues to face serious structural threats due to persistent water seepage, illegal encroachments and administrative challenges despite extensive conservation efforts, officials said on Thursday.

Talking to APP, Deputy Director Conservation of the Walled City of Lahore Authority (WCLA), Mubashar, said significant restoration work had been completed inside the 17th-century mosque, but conservation of its exterior remained stalled because of commercial encroachments surrounding the historic site.

He said the authority had repaired and reconstructed the mosque’s internal walls nearly two years ago, but work on the external walls could not begin until the encroachments were removed and issues related to the surrounding market were resolved.

Mubashar clarified that the removal of illegal encroachments and relocation of the market around the mosque fell under the jurisdiction of the Deputy Commissioner’s Department rather than the WCLA. However, he said the Deputy Commissioner’s Department was actively working to shift the market and clear encroachments to facilitate conservation work and protect the historic monument.

He identified persistent water seepage as the most serious threat to the mosque’s structural integrity. According to him, damaged underground water supply and drainage pipelines have been leaking continuously, allowing moisture to seep into the monument’s foundations and walls.

The prolonged seepage, he said, has been weakening both the internal and external structure of the centuries-old mosque, stressing the need for coordinated efforts by all relevant government departments to address the issue and preserve the country’s valuable cultural heritage.

Saad Zahid (Cultural Heritage Expert): Zahid stresses that the structural decay of the mosque goes hand-in-hand with a loss of cultural memory. He notes that the commercial sprawl has physically choked the area around Masti Darwaza, effectively erasing the neighborhood’s rich, diverse history of religious coexistence.