The two-century-old Wali Khan Mosque in Chittagong city with an extension on one side, blocking the architectural beauty of the Mughal-era structure. Though the extended part is being demolished, the mosque management committee is planning to build a six-storey structure around it. Photo: Anurup Kanti Das

The two-century-old Wali Khan Mosque in Chittagong city, which is bearing testimony to the Mughal-era architecture, is about to be lost from public view, as the mosque managing committee has started the construction of a six-storey complex shrouding it from three sides in the absence of legal protection of the historic structure as an antiquity.

The committee has recently demolished several structures built on the premises of the 18th century mosque only to pave the way for building another complex, which will put the mosque out of sight and may lead to its gradual destruction, said residents of Chawkbazar where the mosque stands on about 120 decimals of land donated for religious purpose.    
The structures, which have been demolished, had barred people from viewing the mosque's aesthetic beauty for decades, they said. Now only the front of the mosque can be seen from the road but it will be covered once the complex is built, said Hamid Ali, a resident.
The six-storey building will be an extension of the mosque, as the number of worshippers has increased, said Md Jafarullah Khan, general secretary of the mosque management committee. This will cost about Tk 5 crore, which will come from donations, he said.
Originally, the six-dome prayer house is 17.83 metres long and 10.25 metres wide, with walls, made of brick powder and lime mortars, as thick as 1.35 metres, according to the DoA, which is supposed to declare the structure an antiquity.
The mosque has three intricately designed doors on the east and two arched doors on the north and south each. The property is under the name of Wali Begh Khan Mosque Waqf Estate.
According to historians, the mosque was built between 1714 and 1719 by Mughal Fouzdar Wali Begh Khan. It is one of the only nine mosques built in Chittagong city during the Mughal period.
The Antiquities Act, 1968, (amended in 1976) states that any ancient (minimum 100 years old) product of human civilisation, illustrative of architecture, warfare, politics, or culture, can be called an article of antiquity. And the government can declare any antiquity as protected.

The construction work going on right beside the historic mosque. The photos were taken recently. Photo: Anurup Kanti Das

Chawkbazar residents said that since the mosque had no legal protection as an antiquity, some influential quarters in 2011 had tried to use its premises for commercial purpose by proposing to build a multi-storey market, including an in-house new mosque, there by demolishing the old one. But locals prevented the move.
On June 18, 2012, Chittagong History Research Centre, an organisation working with history and heritage of Chittagong, applied to the prime minister to preserve this mosque.
Later, Md Amiruzzaman, then deputy director of the DoA, Chittagong, and also curator of Chittagong Ethnological Museum, submitted a report on the mosque to DoA's headquarters in Dhaka within a week suggesting its preservation as an antiquity for its historic and architectural values.
More than two years have passed since then, but it is yet to be enlisted as an antiquity.
Meanwhile, the 17-member mosque governing committee, led by ABM Mohiuddin Chowdhury, president of Awami League's Chittagong city unit, has moved to build the six-storey structure.
The committee general secretary, Jafarullah, said they would build the structure keeping a distance of five feet from the old building. Asked whether they have consulted with the DoA about this, he said a DoA team had visited the site but did not give them any directives. If they come forward to preserve the mosque, the committee will cooperate, he added.
Assistant Director of DoA, Chittagong, Lovely Yesmin, told The Daily Star that she had joined recently and had no idea about any development. She, however, said she would discuss the matter with senior officials.