AS you walk through Lahore`s old walled city`s Delhi Gate, about 200 yards ahead to the right is a lane turning in by the name of Gali Surjan Singh, named after a famous 19th century Royal `Hakeem` who lived there.

As one walks along this lane it seems more like one in Seville in Spain, brightly painted exteriors, beautiful period lamps, flowers in pots and a clean bricked walkway.

Many years ago, I took Syed Babar Ali, the entrepreneur, to see this place and as he sat on a `charpoy`in a house at the end of the lane, his unprompted response was: `Oh, I would love to live here, full marks to the Aga Khan`. These were remarks of a man whose whole family grew up in the old walled city, and who every Sunday goes back to his old `Haveli` inside Bhati Gate where his parents are also buried. The transformation of a small lane from a crumbling unwelcome to a beautiful very loveable place is thanks to the interest of Prince Abdul Karim Aga Khan the 49th, who sadly passed away in Portugal last Wednesday.

Lahore owes him a lot, andLahore will or should praise him in the years to come. How did all this start? The head of the Planning and Development Board, a`pucca`Lahoriby the name of Suleman Ghani, had prepared the draft for setting up the Walled City of Lahore Authority. In 2005 when the Aga Khan came to Lahore, he met Suleman, then chairman of P&D, in the Governor`s House. Suleman made his presentation which impressed the Aga Khan and he immediately agreed to assist. His comment as reported in a newspaper archive was: `Lahore is where my grandfather came, lived and participated in the Freedom Movement. Lahore is part of me too.

On listening to the presentation of Suleman, the Aga Khan immediately turned to Lois Monreal, the DG of the Aga Khan Trust, and instructed him to do everything that the P&D chief says. Thus, the way was opened for the setting up of the WCL A, which, thanks to the Sharif government of those days, sadly took another seven years to set up. But the P&D also had the support of John Wall, the then World Bank chief in Pakistan, who loved Lahore so much that he purchased a `haveli` in the old city. That `haveli` is today known as the HaveliRestaurant. John Wall coordinated with the Aga Khan Trust, and they together pressurised various European governments to donate large sums so that specific projects could be undertaken.In thisregard, the amazing Pakistani architect Masood Khan led the AKT effort and work started on Gali Surjan Singh.

The P&D report was very concerned about the complete collapse of the living standards of people in the walled city.

After the 1947 Partition, the influx of shopkeepers had drastically reduced the rights of the local population, which is almost what it is today. The lanes and streets are decaying and virtually falling apart, and the new WCLA is concentrating on the major monuments to attract tourists.The shopkeepers` gain while the population grows even more poorer. The rulersofthelandrepresentthe shopkeepers, and as a resident told me: `We have no idea who we vote for`. So it was that work on Gali Surjan Singh started. On its completion in 2011, the government saw for itself the marvel that had emerged, and so it was that in 2012 the WCLA Act was passed by the Punjab Assembly.

If our readers are told who voted against the Act, or abstained, they will beshocked. The amazing quality of the work by the Aga Khan Trust for Culture awoke many a bureaucrat, and soon it was decided that the WCLA would concentrate on famous monuments and leave repairing old crumbling houses for later work. It is a strategy that means that tourism money is coming in while the old and ancient portions of the city continue to decay. Just one walk through the streets and lane and `mohallahs` and `katras` will show those interested is what one means.

In the days when the WCLA was not set up, the secretary (archives), a pious vocal bureaucrat, organised a lunch inside the Shahi Hammam. It was an exquisite setting that was being used as a marriage hall. This Mughal era monument was falling apart. The late Abdul Karim Aga Khan the 49th was told about this, and he immediately started organising funds for his Trust to work on the `hammam`. As work on the `hammam` went ahead it was discovered that the then outer street surface was 12 feet below what it is today. It was almost like an archaeological excavation.

After three years of very hard work what has emerged is an amazing second to none anywhere in the world. In a waywith the Delhi Gate also being conserved and saved, this eastern entrance and the `hammam` produced two worldclass monuments. Ahead is Gali Surjan Singh. Lahore suddenly became a tourist attraction. As one follows the working of the Aga Khan Trust for Culture, one learns of Aga Khan the 49th spending millions to conserve the finest monuments in the Muslim world. From Fez in Morocco to Algeria to Egypt to Syria and right up to Jahangir`s Tomb in Delhi, the sheer quality of his work is stunning. His contribution to Muslim culture is unmatched. `Work, not words` was his motto. One learns that his son, the new 50th Aga Khan has pledged to continue his father`s amazing work. But besides Lahore, the work of Abdul Karim Aga Khan the 49th in Pakistan`s northern regions is equally amazing. I do realise that I am using strong adjectives, but my hands are tied. In the northern remote hills, he has convinced the male population that the Holy Prophet (PBUH) had ordered that all females be educated. `Only then will the entire family be educated and cultured`. The results are before our readers to go and see for themselves. When the unconscious almost dead -Bilal the Slave was purchased, he was beaten so much that he remained unconscious for six days. The Holy Prophet (PBUH) prayed non-stop without eating, and when Bilal opened his eyes, the first order to Abu Bakr (RA) was: `Educate Bilal for we need educated people`. The Aga Khan followed this and educated others about the need for educational institutions and hospitals. The contribution to the culture and educational institutions and hospitals of Lahore and Pakistan by Prince Abdul Karim Aga Khan the 49th are a world apart.

As the Wazir Khan mosque is conserved as also the Lahore Fort regains its glory, we have in large part the Aga Khan to thank. When praised the late Aga Khan always responded: `Thank the poor workers who slave away day and night to save our Muslim heritage`.

Probably the next task of the new Aga Khan the 50th, as also the current chief minister, would be to make sure the WCLA is a complete and independent Local Council offering independent and worldclass municipal services free from outside pressures. That is the challenge. Only then will what Syed Babar Ali wished would come true, and the best among us will live there.