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LAHORE: A writ petition filed in the Lahore High Court on Monday has requested that directions be issued to the federal government to bring back from India the ‘Dancing Girl’ bronze statue excavated from Moenjodaro in 1926.
Barrister Javed Iqbal Jaffrey, the petitioner, has asked the LHC to take suo motu notice in this regard. He claims that the statue is the property of the Lahore Museum. It was taken to India around 60 years ago at the request of the National Arts Council, Delhi, and was never brought back.
Mr Jaffrey says the statue has the same historic importance as Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa in Europe. He calls it a marker of Pakistan’s cultural heritage which needs to be protected.
The statue is 10.5 centimetres tall and nearly 5,000 years old. Some of the most famous archaeologists in the world have described it as one of the most captivating pieces of art from the Indus site.
In a recent statement, Jamal Shah, director general of the Pakistan National Museum of Arts, hinted that the government was considering writing to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation to bring the statue back. “This is important if we want to protect our heritage.”
Published in Dawn October 11th, 2016
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Comments (25) Closed
Oct 11, 2016 09:01am
There is another emotional issue to prep up jingoistic feeling
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Oct 11, 2016 09:08am
Jamal shah I admire your love for art of the land.
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Oct 11, 2016 09:09am
Kohinoor should also be brought back from England.
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Oct 11, 2016 09:14am
Indus valley civilization is the ancient Indian civilisation. Later part of indian civilisation started when the Aryans entered the subcontinent. 15000 years old paintings have been discovered in india. If you really want to know about india you can do Google and search Discoveries and inventions in india.
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Oct 11, 2016 09:14am
It would be nice to have this returned to its place of origin and be put back in the mohenjodaro museum where it belongs.
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Oct 11, 2016 09:17am
Innocent leaders ignorant of importance of cultural values of these valuable art. Great move... but needs to be followed persistently and consistently to get some positive results.
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Oct 11, 2016 09:19am
Strange that they brought from her 60 years ago and no one bother to notice it earlier. Who gave that to indian arts council .. ?? Should be brought back at earliest through every possible means..
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Oct 11, 2016 09:28am
OK, just give the address where it has to be delivered
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Oct 11, 2016 09:33am
Since majority of Indiaans are asking to bar our artists from performing in India, therefore, we decided to take this one back too! After all it's the statue of a dancing girl!!!!
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Oct 11, 2016 09:38am
This is antique from indus civilization and should be brought back as it was borrowed (not gifted).
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Oct 11, 2016 09:45am
Indus valley civlization is the heritage of people of Pakistan. Its like saying Egyptians have nothing to with Egyptian civilization since they became muslims.
Indus is ours, Mohenjadaro is ours. Todays india has nothing to with this civilization.
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Oct 11, 2016 10:00am
The dancing girl of Mohenjo-Daro stand testimony of the love, dance and music among the Sindhis. Sindhi dances include jhumir, dhamal, dandia, talli and jhamelo and their music forms are laada, bhagat, dohiraa, kafi and kalam. Therefore, this dancing girl is an icon of culture heritage of Sindh and it must be returned to Sindh. The Govt. of Pakistan should pursue the matter with the relevant UN agencies and other international forums to get back this heritage, which ultimately reflects the soft image of Pakistani society.
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Oct 11, 2016 10:04am
Right now, lets focus on preserving people that are alive on both sides than making a statue a national issue.
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Oct 11, 2016 10:09am
Pre-parition India and the post-parition republic of India are two separate entities, dont mix the two and claim ownership of everything.
If is the heritage of this area and belongs to Pakistan!
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Oct 11, 2016 10:24am
Great move! Bring back all those things.
Delhi and all those people have got little to no right on sindh civilization.
Just like Sudanese, Ethiopians etc have no right on Egyptians civilization.
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Oct 11, 2016 10:46am
Even the recent film Mohenjo-daro was factually incorrect. Our friends in India are relying on our Pakistani heritage and obsessed by it. Indians please focus on your "Bollywood Civilization" and return the Dancing Girl as it is part of Pakistan's heritage and not India. Also learn the difference between borrowing something and being gifted something.
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Oct 11, 2016 10:50am
Great move.. but what about concentrating on preserving mohen jo daro itself, the site from.wherre this statue was excavated...
... its world heritage site and we are doing nothing to maintain it...
We should be proud that we have such a site in our country.. we need to preserve and maintain it
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Oct 11, 2016 10:51am
At last Pakistan has started giving importance to Indus Valley civilization. India and Pakistan need not fight for the bronze statue. Pakistan should rather focus in restoration of Indus Valley ruins and finding more historic gems present at the sites.
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Oct 11, 2016 11:02am
I am just curious who just woke up after 60 Years? Timing can't be any better in the middle of cross firing on loc. I never knew such bright people exists in Pakistan?
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Oct 11, 2016 02:11pm
@T.M.Wazir , just a brilliant comment.
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Oct 11, 2016 02:11pm
@Indian Why is India so much interested in Koh-e-noor then? Why don't they let it remain in UK's possession?
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Oct 11, 2016 02:54pm
@Agnos What do you mean "started to"? Mohenjo Daro has been part our cultural heritage from day one, even depicted on our currency notes.
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Oct 14, 2016 02:20pm
I thought pre-Islamic history and art were verbotten?
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Oct 14, 2016 10:37pm
Why want it back? From all accounts, Pakistan claims just the Muslim part as its history and heritage. This artifact is from the past, the same past for which there is absolute rejection, disdain and contempt in Pakistan. Makes no sense. On the other hand, Indians know Mohenjo daro & Harappan people are their ancestors & their own.
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Oct 14, 2016 10:54pm
@nauman. I beg to differ. It's Pakistan that walked away from the culture & heritage of its ancestors, and identifies with tribal Arabs. Be honest, you have complete disdain for any history before bin qasim. The fact is, Indus civilization is India's past and Indus people are Indians' ancestors today and so will be forever. The fact that the site lies in present day Pakistani soil changes nothing about Indians' connection to this civilization. The site lost to Pakistan during partition was the greatest tragedy inflicted on Indian identity.
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