By AAMIR YASIN

Dawn, May 17th, 2015

Hasraat Haveli still stands tall on Murree Road.

It is a building whose significance has drifted from living memory. Very few people who are still alive would remember that the majestic building that today houses the Education Department’s offices on Murree Road and the Government Girls High Secondary School in an annex was once a prison, a hospital and an orphanage during the British Raj.

The building, originally known as the Hasraat Singh Haveli, sprawls over an acre of prime real estate in the heart of modern–day Rawalpindi; from Liaquat Bagh to Committee Chowk, opposite the Shah Di Talian shrine.

Built in 1860 by a local Sikh influential, Hasraat Singh, for welfare purposes, there is no official record that can tell us much about the man except that he built the haveli in memory of his uncle. Later, many other Sikh and Hindu philanthropists also took part in the welfare project.

A portion of the building was turned into a girls school in 1965.

A plaque on the adjacent school building reads: “In the sweet memory of our revered father L. Ganesh Das Bhasin who died on July 9, 1927. By his devoted sons S.C. Bhasin and M.L. Bhasin Engineers, Rawalpindi.”

The main courtyard surrounded by archways.

This building has had many names. After a stint as Hasraat Singh Haveli, the building came to be known as the Ram Das Hospital and was then turned into the Arya Hospital and Orphanage, until 1900. It also served as the premises of the Rawalpindi Jail for most of the last century, before being turned into local government offices. After 1947, the building temporarily housed the Holy Family Hospital and Govt Degree College, 6th Road, for a few years before both institutions got their own buildings in Satellite Town. In 1965, the govt school and education department moved into this building.

One of the verandas in the building

Memories of its past glory can still be found in certain areas. The building still has its guard towers and large iron gates, that were ostensibly meant to keep inmates from escaping.

A ventilator in the Anglo-Indian style

Before Rawalpindi District Jail shifted to its current Adiala premises, it used to be located where Jinnah Park stands today. It is a site with a dubious privilege; former prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was sent to the gallows there in 1979. The thick walls of the rooms and the lawns and courtyards in the middle of the building harken back to a different time, when construction techniques balanced form and function.

A vigilance tower on the building harks back to the days when it served as a jail. — Photos by Khurram Amin