Situated on the foothills of the Margalla Hills, Saidpur Village, a centre of attraction not only for local tourists and but also foreigners, lacks basic security arrangements, Pakistan Today has learnt.
People often label Islamabad as a city ‘without a soul’, ‘a dull city’ or ‘a place without social and recreational activities’. But over the years, its citizens have learnt to socialise and take their time off for recreational activities. Besides other renovated and constructed recreational spots in the capital, the centuries-old Saidpur Village is now offering a lot to its visitors but with the tag: ‘visit at your own risk’.
Pakistan Today asked the visitors about the security situation in the village and many said that like everywhere else in the country, security was not meant for ordinary people but for parliamentarians.
“Preserving this artistic and rich cultural site in the foothills of Margalla is no doubt a remarkable effort to help revive the dying arts of the region and promote inter-civilizational harmony. However, lack of security arrangements keep most of the visitors away from the site and in present situation foreigners in particular avoid coming here,” said Saidpur Village resident, Zahid Mehmood, who visits the recreational spot daily at evening.
Mehmood said that the Capital Development Authority (CDA) has taken no security measures except setting up a couple of barriers for those entering from the Margalla Road. “The security pickets remain without a security guard most of the time. There is no walk-through gate installed anywhere in the village neither anyone is checked at the parking,” he said. Saidpur was a large piece of land exposed to terrorists’ threats and the authorities must depute security official to prevent any untoward incident, he said.
A visitor, Faiza Tirmizi, said that she regularly visited the place ever since the CDA renovated the village, however, she added, the village now looked more like a food street than a recreational spot, owing to the mushroom growth of food outlets. She believed that the increasing number of food outlets also triggered insecurity. Pointing towards a couple of under-construction restaurants, she said that since there was no security arrangements, no one knew who entered the building and who exited, even the security guards did not bother to check labourers.
Fauzia Minallah, an Islamabad-based artist, has written a book titled ‘Glimpses into Islamabad’s Soul’. Fauzia has described many such places in and around Islamabad including the Saidpur Village with its long history and heritage, myths and folklore.
Recently a lot of development in the area has taken place. The road to the village has been carpeted, forest areas were cleaned of undergrowth, a rustic fence was erected along the road leading to the village, and haystacks suddenly sprouted along the road to give a rural look to the area. However, no attention to the security of the area was given.
Talking to Pakistan Today, Nageen Hyat, who is running her arts and crafts gallery ‘Nomad Art Gallery’ for the past 18 months, said that besides security issues, the village was facing parking problem. “People of all segments of the society visit this place, and unfortunately majority of them come only to dine than visiting the ancient village or arts and crafts galleries established in the premises of this village,” she said. Hyat said that this concept of ‘Food Street’ should be condemned, as many of te restaurants, including food streets already existed at many places in the city. “The string of restaurants not only poses security risk but also creates problems for the local villagers and shopkeepers. Old potters of the village, Niaz Muhammad and Rahim Dad, are still running their workshops in the village, but no one, unfortunately, is there to promote their dexterous work. I think here the local art and craft of the village should be promoted and not the international or national food chains,” she concluded.
The project was started by CDA with an objective to make the village a ‘model village’ in different phases, said an official of CDA, adding that Phase I of the project was completed while Phase II was pending due to shortage of funds. About the security arrangements, the official said that the project was leased after completion of Phase I and those who established businesses and entertaining points at the village have private security. CDA Spokesman Ramzan Sajid said that the officials of CDA and the police had been deployed in Saidpur Village to take care of the security. “The project director of Saidpur Village project with his staff is keeping a vigilant eye on the visitors on a regular basis to avoid any untoward incident,” he said.
ABOUT THE VILLAGE: Saidpur is a four or five hundred years old village nestled in the Margallah Hills overlooking Islamabad. Built along the slope of the hills, and gradually creeping upwards, the village presents a picturesque view, particularly in the soft light of morning or afternoon sun. Saidpur is named after Said Khan, the son of Sultan Sarang Khan, the Gakhar chief of the Potohar region during Emperor Babur’s time.
Emperor Jahangir’s memoir, Tuzke Jahangiri, mentions Jahangir’s halting at a place “beyond Rawalpindi”, on his way to Kabul. From his description it seems the place was Saidpur. The Persian book `Kaigor Namah’ beautifully describes the place during the visit of the Mughal commander Raja Man Singh in about 1580. It was a garden resort with a number of natural streams supplying water for drinking and irrigation. Raja Man Singh was so enamored by the village that he turned it into a place of religious worship. He constructed raised platforms, walled enclosures and a number of kunds (ponds) called Rama kunda, Sita kunda, Lakshaman kunda and Hanuman kunda named after the characters of the Hindu epic Ramayana. Saidpur was declared a pilgrim centre and Rama kunda was preserved right up to 1947.
The first thing one notices on entering the village (and that is a big surprise), past a green domed mosque, is a Hindu temple, prominently situated and newly restored and painted. A little removed from the temple, to the left, is a small building with two orange coloured domes. A plaque on this building, written in what appears to be Gurmukhi, suggests it might have been a Gurdwara or a Sikh shrine.
Between the temple and the `gurdwara’ is a neat, two-storey building that was an orphanage (Dharamsala) at one time. The temple is mentioned in the Punjab Gazetteer of Rawalpindi district of 1893-94, which suggests it is over a hundred years old. It’s amazing that a temple and gurdwara survived in a village that had no Hindu or Sikh population since 1947.
Saidpur is also known for making unglazed pottery. The distinct cultural identity of Saidpur has always been its pottery and it has always been known as the potters’ village. The shrine of Zinda Pir or the Living Saint is located just a couple of hundred feet above the temple on the hill slope under a pair of old banyan trees.
