BAHAWALPUR, Feb 28: After a comparison of past and present lists of items it is now confirmed that almost 80 per cent of antiques owned by the late amir of defunct Bahawalpur state, Sir Sadiq Muhammad Abbasi V, are missing from his Sadiqgarh palace.

Dawn learnt on Saturday that among the missing valuables were Nawab's silver cot fitted with automatic dolls in four corners worth millions of dollars, a ghilaf-i-kaaba displayed at the main entrance of darbar hall, an iron safe thought to be filled with gems and jewellry, but now broken, large sized Belgium-made mirrors fitted almost in every wall of each bedroom of the palace and chandeliers.

The first inventory was prepared in 1975 when the then prime minister the late Z. A. Bhutto ordered sealing of the palace after recovery of one of the Nawab's guns from Balochistan. Mr Bhutto called Prince Saeedur Rashid Abbasi, who was a minister in his cabinet and a legal heir of the Nawab, and showed him the guns having the amir's emblem.

According to the inventory prepared by the Punjab government on February 27, 1975, the silver cot thought to be purchased by the fourth Nawab, was placed in the French bedroom. It is claimed that the cot has been placed in the French museum since 1990.

There were 251 guns and 88 other military weapons preserved in the glass showrooms in the museum of the palace which are now empty. The iron safe was lying in the strong room of the basement and the late Nawab Muhammad Abbas Abbasi, former governor of the Punjab, and father of Nawab Salahuddin Abbasi, had informed the officials that its keys were missing and his words were entered in the inventory.

The other articles in the 1975 inventory included five Rolls Royce cars, several miniature paintings of former Nawabs, 265 manuscripts of various types, 66 rare manuscripts of the Holy Quran and 17 albums of photographs.

Later, following a legal dispute between the heirs of late Nawab, the palace was unsealed on the court orders issued on the writ of Prince Saeedur Rashid Abbasi and former commissioner Murtaza Barlas prepared an inventory signed by former deputy commissioner Sardar Munir Akbar Khan on July 14, 1991. The items listed in the 60-page inventory included 48 keys of different rooms, details of more than 25 chandeliers of crystal and sut glass, a model of Taj Mahal (which is still lying in one of the side-rooms of the palace), exquisitely carved ivory boxes, a Kala Dhari diamonds' necklace, a wooden box, two big iron boxes (locked), 32 silver dinner plates, 10 silver cups and a silver teapot, and a Holland-made double barrel gun.

Reliable sources said it appeared that the iron bars of the strong room of the palace have been cut with the help of a welding plant. The iron safe which was lying in the basement has also been broken and all the jewellery missing.

They said at present there was no 'valuable' which could be auctioned. The leftover articles included broken furniture, sofa sets, frames of pictures and broken mirrors. Interestingly, foreign made mirrors of bathrooms were still intact along with their sinks, they concluded.