The negligence of both the federal and provincial governments has caused loss of the country’s heritage, writes Muqaddam Khan

The stunning story of the recovery of over 2,000-year-old Gandhara relics in Karachi, which were collected from an illegally dug site in the Pukhtun belt, raises a number of questions. How and why did the government fail? Where were the custodians of national archaeological treasure? Why was the smuggling mafia, indulged in sending the extraordinary artefacts out of the country, not unearthed? How can we preserve our heritage? How can we safeguard the excavated and unexcavated archaeological sites and foil smuggling attempts in future?

Finding an answer to all these queries is an uphill task as the government officials prefer to stick with the old tactics of giving lame excuses than coming up with anything concrete.

The sheer negligence of both the federal and provincial governments has caused loss of the country’s heritage and prized remains, deterioration of archaeological sites, theft of artefacts, smuggling and illegal digging, etc. However, archaeologists are of the opinion that the KP directorate of archaeology and museums is not adequately equipped to take result-oriented conservation steps for the protection of archaeological sites which is a constant and continuous process. There is also a dire need of extensive research.

The irony of the situation is that instead of our own intelligentsia, the Kyoto University, Japan, has given a wake up call to Pakistan for preservation of the archaeological sites of Gandhara. It is feared that if we fail to take adequate steps we might lose our historical asset forever, yet we are still in a state of slumber with no room to absolve ourselves of the responsibility of protecting our precious legacy.

“Officially there are 91 excavated archaeological sites in KP, protected and excavated by the provincial directorate of archaeology and museums,” says Muhammad Asif Raza, incharge Hund Museum. In contrast, Dr Fazli Sattar, assistant professor at Hazara University, says, “Renowned Chinese pilgrim FaHian who visited the area in the 6th century AD mentioned the existence of 1,400 rich archaeological sites here. Among them only about 100 have been excavated and the remaining are yet to be explored.”

The Pakhtoon regions are rich in ancient heritage but unfortunately the primeval remains have suffered from the successive governments’ neglect and vandalism. Discus-sions with archaeologists and other experts have brought forth the following conclusions regarding safeguarding our prehistoric and pre-Islamic heritage. Firstly, the failure of the government is quite obvious. No adequate security measures have been taken to conserve the priceless treasure of Gandhara civilisation. It provides an opportunity to the smugglers and looters to plunder the artefacts. For instance, in the recent Karachi incident after the recovery of Gandhara artefacts, no proper measures were taken to protect these artefacts which resulted in unpardonable damage to some precious pieces while some were stolen from the police station.

This is not the first incident of this type. In 2004, six Buddha statues were seized while being smuggled from Swat; about 1,500 artefacts in 2005 and nearly 1,500 artefacts were seized by Jamshoro district police in May 2011.

Secondly, the lack of knowledge has caused a serious blow to the remains of Gandhara. On July 9, Dawn in its editorial aptly writes, “Part of the problem is a general societal attitude that refuses to truly own the country’s rich heritage and history and elevate them to the importance they merit.” In fact, the majority of people are not aware of the Gandhara civilisation or the dynamism of our ancient history. What they only know is that these antiques are precious and money can be made through illegal business (smuggling).

Thirdly, the unbridled materialistic ambitions have also caused serious damage to the Gandhara remains. Thieves and mafias, including illegal excavators, dig the unearthed sites that are full of Gandhara remains and smuggle the ancient pieces abroad.

According to an archaeologist, who wants to remain anonymous, usually the archaeological sites are first dug by unknown people, then the provincial directorate of archaeology and museums steps into their shoes and declares them “government property”. He cites the example of Baja and Gala sites in district Swabi. About 10 years ago, the Baja archaeological site was dug up by unknown smugglers and the government woke up after a large scale excavation was reported. The directorate of archaeology and museums carried out excavations at Baja in March and April 2011, and sculptures, coins, pottery, beads, piece of bangles, etc. were recovered which are now preserved in the Hund Museum.

The Karachi incident revealed that Gandhara artefacts are in more danger now because smugglers have made their way to the archaeological regions and the illegal digging of the historical structures has increased manifold.

The main responsibility to protect the heritage sites lies with the government but everybody should play his/her role to perverse the remains of the ancient civilisation, as in a case of failure, we might lose them for ever.