Sindh government decides to decode Mohenjo-daro scripts

Board decides to invite international experts to decipher the language

KARACHI: In a first, the Sindh government has decided to decipher the language inscribed on artefacts discovered from Mohenjo-daro, one of the largest settlements of the Indus Valley Civilization. For this, the National Fund for Mohenjo-daro (NFM) will  convene an international workshop of experts to give it a try to read the script inscribed on the artefacts.

This decision was taken during the 15th Executive Board Meeting of the NFM under the chairmanship of Education, Culture, Tourism and Antiquities Minister Syed Sardar Ali Shah on Monday.

The meeting was attended by the board members .

The board tentatively decided that the international workshop would be held at Mohenjo-daro, Larkana where experts from around the world would be invited to decode the script. The date of the workshop would be decided soon.

Shah said that before the 18th Amendment, the Archaeology Department was under the domain of federal government, which completely ignored the matter and no attempt was made to decipher the script.



The board meeting also discussed the current condition of Mohenjo-daro and how to save its walls from crumbling.



According to officials, the Indus River flow especially in the time of floods was a big threat to the heritage site. The meeting formed a six-member committee to devise a proper strategy to cope with the threats to Mohenjo-daro posed by the Indus River.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 12^th, 2018.