May 26, 2008	Monday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 20, 1429

TAXILA, May 25: The federal department of archeology is facing resistance in removing encroachments around six ancient sites in Taxila and Hassanabdal due to lack of assistance from the police and the revenue department.

The ancient sites belonging to the Buddhist, Mughal and colonial era are protected under the Antiquities Act 1975 and even some of them have been notified as “protected” by Unesco.

The Supreme Court of Pakistan on August 6, 2007 ordered removal of all encroachments in and around the archeological sites throughout the country. The bench comprising then Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry and Justice Javed Buttar had directed the Punjab government to remove encroachments from historical places within three months.

The court had also directed the chief secretaries of all the four provinces to take proper action to remove the encroachments around the historical places in their respective provinces. Thereafter, the archaeology department’s sub-regional office in Taxila started consultation with police and the revenue department to clear the encroachments, illegal constructions and possession of official land.

Official sources and documents available with this reporter revealed that there were over two dozens ancient sites in Taxila and Hassanabdal, and encroachments have been made around six of them - Sarai Khola, Bhir Mound, Nicholson monument, Wah Garden and Lala Rukh tomb.

It may be mentioned that Section 22 of the Antiquities Act prohibits any structure or construction within 200 feet of protected sites’ outer portion. The rule stats, “Not withstanding anything contained in any other law for the time being, no development plan or scheme or new construction within the distance of two hundred feet of a protected immovable antiquity shall be undertaken without approval of the director general”.

When erection of a cellular phone company’s tower and construction of a hotel was started near Taxila Museum and first city of Taxila Bhir Mound, the department served as many as 12 notices on the land owners and the local court issued stay orders against the contractors. But even then the hotel and a plaza were constructed.

The department brought the matter into the notice of the police but the latter failed to take action against the violators. On Sarai Khola, a Stone Age site dating back to four thousand years BC, illegal digging and encroachments continue unchecked.