KARACHI, Feb 7: In a state of total neglect, the Central Archaeological Library on Sharea Faisal reflects the overall status of archaeology in Pakistan. It is without funds, without skilled manpower and without any government plan to give it the importance it deserves.

The library once possessed no fewer than 50,000 books. Torrential rains that lashed the city in the early 1990s destroyed a major chunk of the collection. (It is not clear why the invaluable volumes were left so unprotected as to be adversely affected by the vagaries of the weather.) Grasping officials walked off with many irreplaceable books. As a consequence, the library now has a little over 21,400 books.

Shedding light on the origins of the Central Archaeological Library, the former director-general of the archaeology department, Ahmad Nabi Khan, said Raul Couriel, a French archaeology expert, and Mirza Mahmood Baig, a well-read library assistant, had teamed up to set up the library in 1958.

"Funds for the library were made available by former finance secretary Mumtaz Hasan. These two gentlemen purchased thousands of books on archaeology from abroad and set up what was then one of the most well-stocked libraries in the subcontinent," he recalled.

Sources told Dawn on Saturday that a couple of years ago the library used to receive an annual grant of Rs40,000 from the federal government for the purchase of new books. They added that the annual budget had been reduced so much that the library had bought no books for the past two years.

"The library does not even have a librarian. The former librarian, Anees Zia, retired at least three years ago. An application has been sent to the ministry, requesting the immediate appointment of a librarian. Let us see how quickly they respond to our request," they wondered.

They pointed out that the cash-strapped library no longer subscribed to research journals. They recalled that the library used to get well-renowned magazines like East and West (Italy) and Archaeology (England).

At present, the library is housed at the exploration and excavation branch of the archaeology department, with the result that officials working at both the library and the exploration branch are a bit cramped for space.

The sources told Dawn that former information minister Mushahid Hussain had ordered the shifting of the library to the Flagstaff House on Sharea Faisal. "Thousands of books were taken to the Flagstaff House.

It then dawned on the officials of the archaeology department that the arrangement was impracticable. The plan was, therefore, scrapped. But there are still 8,000 books at the Flagstaff House which have yet to be brought back to the Central Archaeological Library," they said.

Students and scholars visiting the library, which does not have a photocopier, have to work in cramped and uncomfortable conditions. Nargis Rashid, a history teacher at Karachi University, told Dawn that quite often library users were piqued to discover that the books they were looking for were at the Flagstaff House.

"One has to seek permission from the director-general of the archaeology department to consult a book at the Flagstaff House. It takes quite some time to go through all the red tape involved in getting procurement permission," she explained. The director-general of the archaeology department, Fazal Dad Kakar, was not available for comment.