August 19, 2007	Sunday	Sha’aban 5, 1428

PESHAWAR, Aug 18: Efforts of the directorate of archaeology and museums to revive local arts and crafts by attracting visitors to the 17th-century Gor Khuthree site have largely failed.

Officials said the directorate planned to convert some 22 of the Mughal-era inns inside the walled city into shops, where artefacts were to be sold to connoisseurs. The inns date back to 1641 AD and the eldest daughter of Shah Jehan, Jehan Ara Begum, is credited with ordering their construction.

Ihsanullah, curator and in charge of the historic site, admitted that the number of tourists and buyers visiting the shops was too small. He said that 22 shops were supposed to be opened but so far only three had attracted investors.

Sixty-year-old Bakht Zaman — hailing from Islampura in the Swat district, which is famous for its hand-woven Khaddi shawls — spent more than two months to set up his shop in one of the Gor Khuthree inns after, what he describes, much persuasion by the directorate of archaeology and museums.

He told this correspondent that his efforts bore no fruit. “I am disappointed and am thinking of moving out,” he said.

Mr Zaman said he had been able to sell only five shawls in the past three months. “I spent more than I earned,” he said.

Foreigners rarely visited the site and the low-income locality could hardly afford to buy a Rs500 woolen shawl, he said. “Just one foreigner visited me and bought two shawls but I have seen no foreigner since then,” he remarked.

Mr Ihsanullah said the number of people visiting the Gor Khuthree monument and nearby museum, which was inaugurated in March 2006, was too small. According to him, only official delegations visited the site.

The museum’s record showed that despite a low entry fee, only 24 foreigners and 53 local people had visited the site last year. In an effort to attract local artisans, the directorate waived off the shops’ rent.

The museum showcases plates, bowls, vases, pitchers and other unique items recovered during excavation of the Gor Khuthree site, which dates back to the Kushan, Indo-Greek, Hindu Shahi and Scythian-Parthian periods. It also has inscribed jugs of the Ghaznavid period.