A Green Sanctuary Under Siege – one of the oldest green lungs of the city Nasir Bagh Lahore being axed to make plaza car parking!
Nasir Bagh wasn’t a spot of grass. It stood between Lower Mall and Kutchehry Road, flanked by the symbols of Lahore’s scholarly and cultural identity: Government College University, National College of Arts, Pak Tea House, Lahore Museum, Urdu Bazaar, and Old Anarkali. For students, writers, travelers, activists, and everyday Lahoris, it was a refuge—a shaded corner in constant motion, a green pocket where sparrows, kites, parrots, and insects carried on their quiet routines, where history felt a little more tangible.
From Restoration to Ruin—All in One Year
The pace of this makes the sense of loss sharper. Just last year, the Punjab Horticulture Authority gave Nasir Bagh a careful, patient restoration: old paths reconnected, overgrown corners revived, the park’s heritage preserved with care. It felt like public institutions finally investing in Lahore’s green identity.
Now, that restoration seems like a cruel prelude to destruction. Days later, heavy machinery moved in. The overturning of soil, which once guarded a network of roots and microecosystems; hills leveled, benches removed. Most painful of all, hundreds of trees, decades-old some of them, are being axed without any hesitation. The character of the park evaporates faster than the city can respond.
An Ecosystem Silenced
Calling it a “development project” hardly captures the truth. What is happening is ecological erasure.
The tall canopy of Nasir Bagh did more than please the eye in a crowded city. It helped combat the smog by filtering dust, cooling the air, absorbing pollutants, and softening the urban landscape. It supported bird habitats that have vanished from other parts of Lahore. To destroy such an ecosystem isn’t progress; it’s neglect.
Environmentalists warn that Lahore is running out of green breathing spaces, as parks shrink and urban planning increasingly trades nature for concrete. In this climate, the demolition of Nasir Bagh feels like the city losing one of its last lungs.
The Public Pushback—And the Race Against the Bulldozers
Activists, students, and enthusiasts of heritage are showing up every day to document everything: the trees, the machinery, the broken branches, a record of how fast this project moves.
Yet their voices seem to be drowned out by the roar of the machines.
The tragedy is not only environmental; it is cultural. Nasir Bagh was a part of Lahore’s memory, with sit-ins, poetry sessions, and quiet shade-laden conversations besides the thousands of moments of peace it had given. Its destruction is not the loss of a park; it’s the erasure of a communal space that carried emotional meaning for the city.
A Development Model That Forgets People
No city thrives by pursuing more concrete. They prosper when public spaces are protected, nature is preserved, and communities have space to breathe.
The conversion of Nasir Bagh into another parking plaza reflects a development vision which favors cars over people and convenience over long-term sustainability.
If Lahore continues down this track, we are not only losing parks, but the soul of the city.
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