WASHINGTON, June 29: Pakistan and the US are working on a protocol to prevent the smuggling of Pakistani cultural artefacts to US markets, officials said. Secretary Culture Jalil Abbas Jilani, who is in Washington for talks on promoting Pakistani culture in the US, told a briefing at the Pakistan Embassy that the document would be ready for signing within the next six months.

In December last year, US customs authorities intercepted a container of Pakistani relics destined for an art collector in New York. These included several priceless Buddha figurines, busts and other Gandhara art objects.

The container, which arrived at the Newark port, was shipped from Dubai.

Sale or smuggling of treasures of national heritage from any country is a crime under US laws and the United Nations Convention on the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage.

Mr Jilani said the person who was to receive the artefacts in the US has been identified as a Pakistani-American but he did not disclose his name.

The secretary said that other accomplices had also been identified and would be arrested soon.

During his visit, Mr Jilani also discussed arrangements for holding Pakistani cultural festivals in the US, particularly at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and the Smithsonian Institute in Washington.

The JFK Center will also host a website on Pakistani culture and visitors to the center’s website will be automatically guided to this and other links on art and culture in Pakistan.

An art exhibition on the Indus valley civilization, depicting the world’s oldest civilization sites at Moenjodaro, Harappa, and Mehrgarh, will also be held in Washington.

Mr Jilani also approved a plan for opening a cultural cell at the Pakistan Embassy in Washington, which would be formally inaugurated on August 14. It will have a fully-documented library of DVDs, CDs, cultural press and books, and serve as a point of contact.