12 May 2004	Wednesday	21 Rabi-ul-Awwal 1425

KARACHI, May 11: The Sindh High Court asked the archaeology department on Tuesday to allow a petitioner to catalogue the books and antiquities preserved at the central archaeological library and museum here and post them on the internet at their own expense.

The order was passed by a division bench comprising Justices Shabbir Ahmed and Khilji Arif Hussain at the request of an administrator of the defunct Karachi metropolitan corporation, Fahim Zaman Khan, who appeared in person, and seven other prominent citizens who have moved a writ petition against shifting of the precious books and artefacts from the city along with the office of the director-general of the archaeology department to the Lahore Fort. The move had already been finalized in May 2002 when public protest and a vigorous campaign in the press stalled it.

A writ petition was filed subsequently and the court issued notices to the respondent federal ministry of culture, the department of archaeology and the Sindh government.

The provincial government said it had nothing to do with the move and was, in fact, opposed to it. The federal government submitted through Deputy Attorney-General Nadeem Azhar Siddiqui that there was no plan to shift the books or the antiquities.

The petitioners stated through Advocate Iqbal Haider that the government clarification and denials were evasive and left the door open for subsequent shifting when the public indignation subsided.

The government contradicted shifting to Lahore but justified transfer to Islamabad or Taxila. While the removal of artefacts from the National Museum, Karachi, was denied, it was silent on the antiquities kept at the archaeology department's excavation and exploration branch in the city.

They said the move completely ignored the guidelines prescribed by Unesco and the Antiquities Act of 1975. It was also violative of the government's policy, they maintained.

As the petition came up for hearing on Tuesday, the federal attorney said he had already submitted the respondents' comments denying the averments made in the petition. He had also submitted a list of over 21,000 books and about 150,000 objects of antiquity kept in the archaeology department's library and museum.

However, the government reserved the right to remove the artefacts for display and exhibition outside Karachi in accordance with the law. Mr Siddiqui sought time to address a court query about inter- provincial movement of antiquities for the purpose of exhibition. He was asked whether artefacts were ever brought from any other province for display in Karachi.

Petitioner Fahim Zaman Khan told the bench that a number of rare books were damaged or destroyed in a heavy rainfall in 1994 and their number had dropped. He said he had proposed shifting of the library and the museum to Frere Hall but the proposal was turned down.

He requested the court to let him prepare an inventory of the books and antiquities at his own expense and make them available on the internet for researchers and others interested in cultural heritage.

Granting the request, the bench asked the archaeology department to cooperate with him. Further hearing was adjourned to a date in office.