January 10, 2007	Wednesday	Zilhaj 19, 1427

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LAHORE, Jan 9: Punjab has once again requested the federal government to speed up the process of transfer of 147 archaeological monuments to the province as it has already met all the conditions set for the purpose.

Punjab Archaeology director-general Oriya Maqbool Jan had called on federal culture secretary Jalil Abbas a couple of weeks ago and requested him to decide the fate of the monuments at the earliest.

Sources quoted Mr Jan as having informed the federal secretary that some federal culture ministry officials had been creating snags in the transfer of the monuments to the province despite the passage of two years.

Mr jan told the federal secretary that if the process was not stepped up he would be forced to approach the chief minister and inform him of the situation, naming the officials responsible for the delay.

The federal government in 1980 for the first time decided to handover 91 monuments to Punjab. However, the provincial authorities accepted only 61, saying rest of the monuments were in an advanced stage of decay, and some of them had totally disappeared.

On March 25, 2000, at a meeting held in Murree, President Gen Pervez Musharraf had sought a proposal on the monuments’ transfer to provinces. In 2002, the cabinet formed a committee, which worked out a proposal for the purpose, forming a technical committee headed by Prof Farid Ahmed Khan to evaluate the exercise.

The committee, after holding a number of meetings, recommended that only the Punjab government was in a position to take the monuments’ charge. But, it said that monuments on the world heritage list— Shalamar Gardens and Lahore Fort — should remain with the federal government.

In February, the federal government announced that Lahore Fort and Shalamar Gardens too would be transferred to Punjab government, and on July 5, 2004, a notification to this effect was issued.

The federal culture secretary wrote a letter to all provinces, inviting them to a meeting on the monuments’ transfer to Punjab a year ago.

Mr Jan, in his recent meeting with Mr Abbas at Islamabad, informed the secretary that the fate of about 500 monuments in Punjab was undecided as they neither fell into the category of Special Premises Act, nor came under the Antiquities Act 1975. He deplored that despite putting its best efforts for a smooth transfer of monuments to the province the Punjab Archeology Department could achieve nothing concrete yet.

Sources said the federal authorities had been told that if the case was not decided soon, Punjab would start work on its own on the 500 monuments having no status, including Pattan Minara, a site belonging to Hakra civilisation, with the funding available with the provincial archeology department.

In October, 2006, the federal culture ministry wrote a letter to Punjab information and culture secretary announcing “handing over of three of its development projects at different archeological sites to Punjab Archeology Department for execution” as a first step towards gradual shifting of responsibilities.

It was agreed upon that “all the projects — Harappa, Rohtas and Shahdara Complex — should be handed over to the Punjab government along with the administrative control of these sites as well as the staff working over there”.