02 March 2004	Tuesday	10 Muharram 1425

LAHORE, March 1: The federal government has reportedly decided to hand over the federally controlled monuments in the Punjab to the provincial government, asking the other provinces to first strengthen their archaeology departments.

The decision is said to have been taken on the recommendations of a six-member committee on decentralisation of monuments. The committee submitted its recommendations to the federal culture ministry around a week ago, suggesting that as many as 144 federally controlled monuments in the Punjab should be handed over to the provincial administration.

However, it has also recommended not to transfer the control of the three monuments - Lahore Fort, Shalamar Gardens and Rohtas Fort - on the World Heritage List to the province.

Besides, the committee has also recommended that four other monuments in different other parts of the country should remain with the federal archaeology department.

Prime Minister Zafarullah Khan Jamali has already ordered that the administrative control of the Lahore Fort and the Shalamar Gardens be handed over to the Punjab.

Sources said the PM had ordered the transfer of the two WHL monuments on the request of the provincial chief minister. The chief minister had reportedly forwarded a summary to the PM in this regard a couple of weeks ago, requesting him to hand over the two monuments to the province for their "proper upkeep."

Besides, the Punjab also wanted to hold cultural activities at the two places. The federal archaeology department often refuses to allow the provincial administration to organise such activities in order to protect the two monuments from vandalism and damage.

The committee on decentralization of monuments, comprising one member each from the Punjab, the NWFP, Sindh, Balochistan, the federal archaeology departments and the culture and tourism ministry, had also recommended to provide financial assistance of Rs10 million for the establishment of an archaeology department in Balochistan.

It also suggested that the working of the NWFP and Sindh archaeology departments should be improved and their staff strength be increased. The committee also examined the Antiquity Act of 1975, the Punjab Special Premises Preservation Ordinance, the Sindh Cultural Heritage Preservation Act and the NWFP's Antiquity Act to bring uniformity in them.

It also recommended that the employees of the federal archaeology department in the Punjab might be merged with the provincial archaeology department. It may be mentioned that the committee was formed in the light of President Gen Pervez Musharraf's directive to ascertain whether or not the federal archaeology department's monuments could be transferred to the provinces.

Meanwhile, the federal ministry has asked the archaeology department (north circle) to provide it with the list of employees working at the Lahore Fort and the Shalamar Gardens.

On the other hand, the officials of the federal archaeology department have taken strong note of the move, which, they said, would allow certain elements at the helm of affairs in the Punjab government to use the historic monuments, especially those on the WHL, for organizing official functions.

They were of the view the decision of transfer of monuments to the Punjab was not taken to uplift the existing condition of the monuments, but to generate revenue by holding functions there which the federal government never allowed.

They said the federal government had all the technical staff - architects, engineers, excavators, anthropologists, curators and paper conservators - required to repair and maintain the monuments. "The Punjab has no manpower to look after the monuments," they said.

Unesco adviser Yasmin Lari told this reporter that it was a strange move on part of the ministry to dismantle such a huge set up and merge it with the smaller one.

She apprehended that the provinces might not interact with the donor agencies like Unesco, which used to secure funds for the preservation of monuments across the country.

Unesco director Ingeborg Breines said the decentralization of the monuments was a complex issue. "However, Unesco was only concerned with the preservation of monuments in Pakistan."

She said for the proper upkeep of monuments, the federal and provincial governments would have to work together. She was of the view that besides foreign findings, the government should also allocate enough funds for the preservation of historic monuments.