IT is common in Pakistan to find state and society citing heritage as a source of national pride. When it comes to actually protecting such inheritances, though, the national track record leaves much to be desired. Be it Taxila or Makli or some other site, both public and governmental interest are sadly lacking. This point was brought to the fore yet again last week at the three-day International Conference on the Moenjodaro Indus Valley Civilisation. The archaeological site of Moenjodaro is one of the largest settlements of the ancient Indus Valley Civilisation, and is estimated to have been built around 2500BCE. It was included on the Unesco World Heritage Site list as far back as 1980. While over the years it has been the subject of much interest for the international archaeological community and its much smaller local counterpart, the site itself has been allowed to deteriorate to a point that, to quote the Unesco country director Vibeke Jensen, if left unprotected, it will disintegrate altogether. Quite apart from the battering of the millennia, the site has also, in recent years, faced debilitating onslaughts of different kinds, including floods. But, as Ms Jensen said, while Unesco’s cooperation to protect the ruins will continue, the dwindling lack of funding is severely hampering such efforts.

On the occasion, Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah gave the assurance that the government would meet the financial needs of experts who sought to conduct research on and preserve Moenjodaro. It can only be hoped that this is not an empty promise. After all, it was the PPP, which has held the government reins in the province for years, that three years ago decided to organise a Sindh cultural festival at the site, subsequent to which there were reports about it having been damaged. Moenjodaro needs urgently to be saved from further damage as it is part of the world’s shared inheritance. The provincial government needs to live up to its responsibilities.

Published in Dawn, February 13th, 2017