Cultural preservation: Save Gandhara from looters, urge experts

ISLAMABAD: Archaeologists at a conference urged the preservation of cultural heritage at a Gandharan site in Taxila, which has recently been damaged because of illegal excavation by various local and regional groups.

The specialists were presenting their views at a conference organised by the American Institute of Pakistan Studies in collaboration with the Ministry of Culture on Saturday.

The conference was titled “Cultural heritage issues in Pakistan: archaeology, museums and conservation.”

Addressing the participants, Bahadar Khan and Abdul Ghafoor Lone of Taxila Museum said the conservation of the site was supported by the US ambassador’s fund for cultural preservation. They outlined discoveries at the site along with damages caused by Huna invaders in the distant past and by local looters in more recent times.

Dr Muhammad Nasim Khan, director at the Insitute of Archaeology, wrote in his paper that Kashmir Smast is regarded as one of the important sites in Gandhara and has been identified as the earliest Shiva shrines in the area.

Abdul Samad of Hazara University told participants that the British Council had recently funded a three-year conservation project being carried out by International Strategic Partnership in Research and Education (INSPIRE).

The project’s main objectives is to systematically explore the heritage of the Chitral valley and develop innovative ways of preserving and managing it. For this purpose, INSPIRE conducted a survey in 2010 to gauge the existing knowledge of Chitralis about their cultural heritage.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 9^th, 2011.