19th October 2011:
The preservation of Moenjodaro was discussed at a conference held in Karachi on Saturday in which archaeological experts, top Sindh government officials and Unesco representatives participated. While the provincial government allocated Rs100m to help conserve the 5,000-year-old Indus Valley Civilisation and World Heritage site, experts in their desperation suggested burial of the ruins until such time that technology became available to control the rising water table and salt levels in the
soil that threaten the prehistoric site. International experts have reportedly been struggling for years to conserve Moenjodaro, in the process experimenting with various techniques that just do not seem to give the desired results. This is extremely worrisome.
It is clear that Pakistan alone cannot foot the bill for the conservation of the prehistoric city; funds coming from Unesco, too, have not enabled the experts to come up
with a formula to do the needful. The money and manpower, including experts working on the conservation project, are deemed to be inadequate by all accounts. There is thus an urgent need to create more awareness about the site that is no less important to human civilisation than the ancient relics of the Egyptian and Mesopotamian cultures. The need is to create a global fund and a pool of competent conservation research experts to explore the challenge at hand and to devise a custom-made solution that will work. It would be a shame having to rebury the unearthed parts of Moenjodaro in the very same soil whose rising water table and salt levels are threatening it. A global appeal needs to be launched by Pakistan with the backing of Unesco to further the debate on preserving Moenjodaro.
Granted, the time to do this should have been years ago, but the urgency of the matter demands it had better be done today.
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Thanks a lot for sharing important information.
I’ve always suspected that the Pakistani government was playing on both sides of the street, this seems to prove it. In any event; my compliments to SEAL team six for a job well done. I also noted with interest that Osama remained true to form and died a coward by using a woman as a human shield; so much for his holy jihad, it’s all well and good to preach jihad and martyrdom ’til you’re the target.
My name is Ahmed. I live in Dadu and I have witnessed the dismal picture of education in Sindh specially in Sukkur and Sindh. The government has no potency to build economic, social infrastructure. The NGO?s are doing great job to provide relief to the populace. Instead of giving relief to the people government officials are creating hurdles in the way of welfare. As member of NGO I have been monitoring different indicators like health, nutrition and education. The worst affected is education. The flood has revealed how the government has failed in health, education and other sector. More than 70% of schools were not functioning before flood and after flood it was NGOs who were able to get back children in TLC (temporary learning centers) and CFS (child-friendly schools) where they were provided with all educational facilities. No doubt it is difficult to curb corruption. There is corruption in NGO but not as much as in government sector where teachers get their salary without attending schools. Various NGOs have monitoring teams which time and again make surprise visit and send report to on daily basis.I would appreciate the work of UNICEF in Dadu.
our team, is working to make awareness in people of sindh, and pakistan to save the Mohen jo Daro on the plate Form of “Mohen jo Daro Academy of sindh, larkano, and we are protesting to recover the stolen the highly precious seals from mohen jo daro
Excellent place for History Lovers.