CHAKWAL: The founder of Mughal Empire in India, Emperor Babur had a great aesthetic sense. He was so awed by the natural beauty of Kallar Kahar and the springs gushing out of its hills that he ordered the establishment of a garden here during the outset of his invasion of India which he undertook in 1519.

Babur, who had a great love for gardens, named the newly-built garden in Kallar Kahar as Bagh-i-Safa (the garden of purity) which was the first ever Mughal Garden in the Indian subcontinent. After over 500 years, the chief justice of Lahore High Court was so impressed by the natural beauty of Bagh-i-Safa that he wanted to have a judicial complex at the heart of this historic garden.

In his memoir, Tuzk-i-Baburi, Babur while narrating the account of his return from the conquest of Bhera writes about his stay at Kallar Kahar, a place which he deemed “considerable” due to natural springs oozing out of the hills and forming a large lake.

“As the place suggested itself suitable for such a purpose, I formed a garden in it, called Bagh-i-Safa (Garden of Purity). It has an extremely agreeable climate, is a very beautiful place and will be mentioned hereafter,” Babur narrates.

Court has directed us to build boundary wall but funds for construction of judicial complex have not been released, says official

In the midst of the garden, Babur also got a stone carved to make an elevated stage from where he would address his army. That stone is called Takht-i-Baburi.

According to the Gazetteer of the Jhelum district 1904, the Gadhoks of nearby Bhoun village had a directive from Emperor Humayun to their ancestor Kalidas to look after Bagh-i-Safa.

Bagh-i-Safa which has already shrunk due to after losing its land to two rest houses has been deprived of a significant portion of its land as Punjab government transferred the possession of its 16.4 kanals to Lahore High Court for building a judicial complex, the construction of whose boundary wall has been started after uprooting a number of trees.

The construction of the wall is supposed to be completed within 12 months at a cost of Rs14.91 million.

A directive in this regard was issued by the assistant registrar (maintenance) of the LHC, Rabia Rafi, on August 24, 2023.

Ironically, LHC has 80 kanals of land for that very purpose in Kallar Kahar at the bank of Kallar Kahar Lake near the motorway interchange and that land has been lying abandoned since 2015 when its possession was transferred to the LHC.

According to the introductory plaque installed at the entrance of the garden, the garden exists on 111 kanals but in reality it has only 68.3 kanals which means a large number of its area has already been shoved into the construction activities.

Now after losing 16.4 kanals to the LHC, the garden has been further shrunk to almost 52 kanals.

According to documents obtained by Dawn, the land of the garden which is owned by the provincial government was in the possession of the district council. However, 16.4 kanals was given in the possession of LHC on February 14, 2023, whereas possession of 80 kanals of shamlaat land was also given to LHC on February 9, 2015 near the motorway’s Kallar Kahar Interchange.

The Chakwal administration transferred the possession of 16.4 kanals to LHC on Feb 14, 2023 while on January 22, 2022, then deputy commissioner Chakwal retired Captain Bilal Hashim had written a letter to higher authorities including senior member Board of Revenue and secretaries tourism and forest departments highlighting the historic significance and natural beauty of the garden.

He had requested that the garden be declared as a botanical garden so that it could be preserved in its present state.

“Furthermore, steps may be taken by the Forest Department and Tourism Department to enhance the biodiversity of the garden and to transform it into a modern botanical garden which will prove to be a great tourist destination for the area”.

Bagh-i-Safa dotted with different fruit plants like loquats, peaches, apricots, bananas and having old peepul trees was considered a natural habitat of peacocks till a few years ago. But now, peacocks rarely squawk and honk on its premises as their population has been decreased drastically due to increasing human presence as the district council and police rest houses are frequented by officials and their families besides a number of picnickers from general public.

The pathetic aspect is that this historic garden is infested with parthenium, the deadliest weed called Gajar Bootiin in local parlance while its fruit trees yield poor production as there are no proper drains to irrigate them and the water of a natural spring which flows beside the garden is unable to irrigate it.

When contacted, Executive Engineer of the Building Department Abdul Ghafoor told Dawn that his department was instructed by the LHC to execute the construction of the boundary wall.

“The funds for construction of the judicial complex have not been released yet,” he added.

Chakwal’s additional deputy commissioner Bilal Bin Abdul Hafeez while giving the version of the district administration told Dawn that he had already conveyed a message to the judiciary requesting it to look into the issue.

“High Court is a higher forum. We are taking up the issue and I am sure it would be resolved amicably,” he maintained.

Published in Dawn, November 5th, 2023