ISLAMABAD, May 14: Culture and Tourism Minister S.K. Tressler on Tuesday said that no artefacts but the director-general’s office and attached staff were being shifted ‘temporarily’ from Karachi to Lahore.

“If the personnel or staff of the director-general’s office are considered to be artefacts, then we are guilty,” Mr Tressler told Dawn.

Criticizing those who are making the matter controversial, the minister said the government had in the past too attempted twice to shift the director-general’s office to Lahore but the move was fizzled out.

He said the decision was part of a plan made to shift the federal capital from Karachi to Islamabad.

The minister said that the artefacts and historical heritage, preserved in the Karachi National Museum, were not the property of any province. “It is a national heritage,” he said, adding that the international community had even gone to the extent of claiming the archeological sites and heritage as the “world heritage.”

Mr Tressler said he had himself told the director-general to shift his office to the Flag House as ample space was available there to house his offices.

Giving justification for the shifting, he said the director-general had to travel between Karachi and Islamabad frequently because he had to interact with international agencies which had offices in the federal capital.

Besides rent, which the government had to pay for the office space in Karachi, a huge amount was being spent on the travelling which could be easily curtailed by shifting the offices. The director-general office would eventually be moved to Islamabad, he pointed out.

The minister disputed the claim that 115 families would be disturbed by the decision. The number of staff being shifted with the office was far less than the one reported, he said.

He said no government servant was being penalized for it was the right of the government to transfer any employee anywhere in the country.