Lahore’s Governor’s House, which dates back to Akbar

The history of the building of Governor House Punjab is more or less 421 years old. The history of this spacious house covering 700 kanals takes us to the era of Akbar Azam in 1600, who built a mausoleum here on the grave of his cousin Qasim Khan and planted a vast garden around it.

Later, Ranjit Singh’s general Khushal Singh built residences for himself and other military officers here. When the British captured Punjab in 1849 and made it a part of India, they bought the place from Teja Singh, nephew of Khushal Singh. During 1851 to 1853 it was rebuilt by Lieutenant Fajan under the supervision of Sir Henry Lawrence, after which the Deputy Commissioner of Lahore, Mr. Boring, became the new resident. After that, Henry Lawrence moved here himself.

In 1858, this building was given the status of Governor’s House of Punjab. Later in 1892, under the guidance of Mr. Lockwood Kipling, Principal of the Mayo School of Arts, construction was done. More buildings were built in 1905, while in 1913 the Governor’s Wing, Family Wing and Durbar Hall were added. While a royal suite was also made here for the Prince of Wales.

During the British era, royal guests and viceroys used to stay here. After the creation of Pakistan, apart from foreign ambassadors, Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah has also stayed here as Governor General.

From the cracks of history come to the present. A short ceremony is being held in the Durbar Hall of the majestic building of Punjab, in which Abdul Razzaq Sajid, chairman of Al-Mustafa Welfare Trust, an organization of British Pakistanis, is being presented with the Governor’s Award for his contribution to welfare activities in Pakistan.

The event is managed by a woman, who was initially thought to belong to a media group that is invited to such events at the Governor’s House. But later it was revealed that she is none other than Parveen Sarwar, the wife of Punjab Governor Chaudhry Sarwar, so the thought came to mind that behind every successful person there is a similar successful woman.

She said that the first time she came to Pakistan from London, the current Governor Chaudhry Sarwar took her from Lahore Airport to her village near Toba Tek Singh. They would turn the pages of the books so that they could prepare for the exams.

He then got married and joined his brother in a cash and carry business in Scotland. In 1997, he became the first Muslim member of the British Parliament to take an oath on the Holy Quran. He was a member of the British Parliament for 13 years till 2010 and after his retirement became the Governor of Punjab in 2013 on the platform of Muslim League-N and then resigned and joined Tehreek-e-Insaaf with a dream of change.

In 2018, he was elected as a member of the Senate, but Imran Khan again installed him as the Governor of Punjab. He is now the 33rd governor of Punjab and if British era governors are also included, his number becomes 58th.

He belongs to the Arayan community of Punjab, whose parents migrated from Indian Punjab and settled here at the time of partition. When he came to speak, he said that he had long ago planned to shift to Pakistan after retirement and even today he considers himself a social worker after a politician who has devoted his rest of his life to welfare. He mentioned the details of the activities of Sarwar Foundation and said that during Corona, so many relief materials were collected here that the space in this spacious building became less. He admitted that his Begum is behind the position he is in today.

But he did not mention the performance of his government if he did not mention it in the ceremony.

There have been 57 governors in Punjab before him, including those British governors, when their courts were held in this hall, khilaats were given to the companions of the British, but today, awards are given to those who have shown outstanding performance in welfare activities. are going to.

Governor House has now become the center of welfare activities instead of political activities and it will not be out of place to say that Chaudhry Sarwar is the first welfare governor of Punjab.

Looking at the interests of the Governor of Punjab, it seems that he is tired of politics and will announce one day that he will give the rest of his life to the Sarwar Foundation.