Malik Ayaz rebuilt and repopulated the city, which had been devastated after the Ghaznavid invasion. He also erected city walls and a masonry fort in 1037-1040 on the ruins of a previous one. During his tenure a confederation of Hindu princes unsuccessfully laid siege to Lahore in 1043-44.

Lahore was formally made the eastern capital of Ghaznavid Empire during the reign of Khusrau Shah in 1152. After the fall of Ghazni in 1163, It became the sole capital. Under their patronage, poets and scholars