KARACHI: Private sector urged to project Indus civilization
KARACHI, Nov 8: Sindh finance, planning and development minister, Dr Abdul Hafiz Sheikh, on Thursday said that serious efforts were needed by the private sector to preserve and project the centuries-old Indus valley civilization.
“The government is prepared to extend a helping hand for the realization of this objective but the leadership role should be forthcoming from the private sector, as in vogue the world over,” he said at a seminar titled “Indus Valley Civilization-our responsibilities”, organized by the Socio-Economic Development Forum (SEDF).
“Now under the emerging scenario, when the projection of the Indus Valley is needed most in order to draw tourists, the job must be executed by international agencies and the private sector,” he said.
He observed that at Patra in Jordan, and Laxer in Egypt, which was called the city of Pharaohs, scores of five-star hotels are available for tourists.
“Unlike them, in Moen-jo-daro, which is a half-an-hour flight from Karachi, hardly a cup of tea is available for visitors, which is enough to discourage them form visiting the place again.”
Similarly, he said, the sewerage system of Moen-jo-daro was better than the existing system in the Larkana city.
Earlier Dr Jawaid Hussain, chairman of the Department of General History, Karachi University, in his detailed analysis of Indus civilization, said it was unique in so many different ways; it gave the concept of use of permanent, yet cost effective, building material for construction of domestic architecture.
Zaffar Ujjan, president of the SEDF, in his welcome address, said that Indus civilization, though our glorious heritage, had not been fully explored.
According to him: “our biggest tragedy have been absurd contradictions and misdirected goals aimed at suppressing the rights of the people of this “wretched earth” the Indus Valley. Hence our efforts to know when class distinctions emerged to dominate the social fabric were obscured by metaphysical beliefs.—PPI
