May 11:

Shifting of antiquities to Lahore criticized

Bureau Report

The people of different walks of life have expressed shock and outrage at the decision of the secretary, Ministry
of minorities, culture, sports, tourism and youth affairs, to wind up the Department of Archaeology and Museum in Karachi and shift over 150,000 antiquities and thousands of books to the Lahore Fort.

Some intellectuals have questioned the authority of the federal secretary in taking such an important decision
in haste and without taking anyone into confidence.

Noted intellectual and educationist, Mohammad Ibrahim Joyo, told Dawn that Punjab had always been playing games with the smaller provinces. He said that our lands and resources were usurped and added that now the province was being deprived of its heritage, history and culture.

Mr Joyo termed the decision immoral and said that Punjab was taking advantage of our political disunity.

The president of the Awami Tehrik, Rasool Bux Palijo, has said the decision is aimed at robbing the province
of its wealth and resources and even its past and added that transferring the wealth of heritage from Karachi to Lahore was tantamount to making one province culturally barren in order to enrich the other.

The former vice chancellor of Sindh University and former chairman of the Sindhi Language Authority, Dr G.A Allana, told Dawn that it was incomprehensible to shift hundreds of thousands of antiquities and books to Lahore which had been lying in Karachi for over half a century and added that he could not understand the motive behind the
decision.

Noted economist and intellectual, prof Mushtaq Mirani, said that President Gen Pervez Musharraf,
in his seven point agenda, had given a commitment to eliminate disharmony prevalent among the provinces but
the move to shift antiquities and precious books from Karachi to Lahore would create disharmony.
He added that it would also create hatred among the people of Sindh against Punjab.

Prof Eijaz Qureshi, regional general manager, the National Rural Support Programme (NRSP) and
former director of the Sindh Development Studies Centre and institute of Business Studies, Sindh University, in
a statement faxed to Dawn expressed his grief and shock over the decision and added that it
was a hasty and one sided decision.

The former vice chancellor of Shah Abdul Latif University, Khairpur, Abdul Hameed Sindhi, in a
statement has said that if the government archaeology department has gone bankrupt, then it should transfer the
national heritage-antiquities and books to the universities and museum of Sindh instead of shifting them to the Lahore fort.

By Our Staff Reporter

KARACHI, May 11: The Governor's House has expressed concern over reports that the department of archeology
and museums, is winding up its offices in Karachi and relocating with 150,000 precious artifacts
, vulnerable books and manuscripts and other historical material to the Lahore Fort.

"This amounts to depriving the people of Sindh of their historical and archeological heritage and is creating resentment among concerned quarters.  "Such a move would further deplete resources available for study and research in
related subjects to the young scholars of the province," said a spokesperson for the Governor's House. "The
provincial secretary culture and tourism has been directed to take up the mater with the relevant authorities in the federal government on a priority basis," he added.

The secretary culture and tourism, Sindh, Ashiq Hussain Memon, has written a letter to the federal ministry about reported shifting of research central library and headquarter of director archeology and museum, from Karachi to Lahore.

SDA: The Sindh Democratic Alliance (SDA), has called for dropping the move to shift the cultural and historical treasure of Sindh to Punjab and said another such move was resisted in 1994 by the then Sindh government.

The SDA leader, Imtiaz Shaikh, pointed out that sometime back the Moenjodaro Laboratory, funded by the Italian government, was shifted to Lahore Fort, following which the Italian government reacted by immediately stopping the funding and the World Heritage Site has begun to decay at an alarming pace.

Sometime back over 40 priceless artifacts, including over 5,000 years stone seals and copper tables, had been stolen from Moenjodaro, which have, so far, not been recovered, showing what interest the Archeology department was taking in the matter and raising the suspicion that high officials had a hand in the matter.

PTI Report: The Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaf, called for cancellation of the shifting, and said the centre had always adopted a colonial attitude towards Sindh in denying provincial autonomy, due share of revenue, water rights and now it seemed that Sindh would be denied of treasure of its cultural heritage comprising over 150,000 artefacts,
antiques, precious historic books, etc.

PTI leader Mairaj Mohammad Khan said the attitude of the federal government was a reminiscent of the colonial rulers who were infamous for collecting all the artefacts, antiques and such treasures that they took from their colonies to enrich their museums in England.