The Lahore Archdiocese has honored a Muslim engineer for working on preserving the Sacred Heart Cathedral damaged in last November's earthquake in Pakistan.
The 52-meter cathedral tower had rotted and cracked and the cross had fallen after the 6.2 magnitude earthquake. The cathedral was built in 1907.
Father Joseph Shehzad, the cathedral rector, publically garlanded Muhammad Ishtiaq for his restoration work on May 8.
"We contacted several engineers but they refused citing the risks involved in working at this height," he said.
Ishtiaq said he plans to "preserve the same culture, design and size" of the affected cathedral.
The City District Government of Lahore has provided US$30,576 to fund the work that is expected to take about four months to complete.