Lahore, 28 November 2025 – Once celebrated as the City of Gardens, Lahore is rapidly turning into a city of concrete. In just a few years, the city has lost up to 75 per cent of its tree cover and green spaces. Unregulated traffic, unplanned urban sprawl, and short-sighted development have transformed a once-livable metropolis into an urban nightmare. Come winter, the Air Quality Index routinely climbs into the “Very Unhealthy” (201-300) and “Hazardous” (300+) zones, with dense smog choking residents for weeks on end.
HRCP is deeply alarmed by the felling of trees in Lahore’s historic Nasir Bagh, reportedly to make way for a parking plaza. Nasir Bagh is one of the city’s oldest public green spaces and its mature tree cover is an irreplaceable environmental and cultural asset.
Destroying…
— Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (@HRCP87) November 28, 2025
This reckless urbanization is not only poisoning the air we breathe; it is also erasing the city’s soul. Historical sites are vanishing under multi-storey plazas, and whatever heritage survives now depends on the whims of bureaucrats and politicians who seem oblivious to Lahore’s past. The latest casualty? The historic Nasir Bagh, earmarked for demolition to make way for a parking plaza.
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Once known as Gol Bagh or Company Bagh during the colonial era, and later renamed in honour of Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser, Nasir Bagh sits on Lower Mall between two of Lahore’s most iconic educational institutions: Government College University and the National College of Arts. For decades, it has been a venue for political rallies, literary gatherings, and quiet evening walks; an irreplaceable patch of green in the heart of the city.
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The sight of bulldozers uprooting century-old trees and flattening the last remaining lawn is nothing short of heartbreaking. Punjab already has the lowest green cover in the country, and Lahore has borne the brunt of this environmental disaster for years. Instead of planting new gardens or protecting existing ones, the administration has chosen to wipe out a cherished public space for yet another concrete structure.
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Destroying Nasir Bagh is not just an ecological crime; it is an assault on Lahore’s history and identity. We cannot allow one of the city’s few remaining lungs – and one of its living monuments – to be sacrificed for parking slots.
We must save Nasir Bagh.
We must save Lahore.
We must save Lahore.
