KARACHI: The Sociology Department of Karachi University will soon have an Ethnological Museum which will trace and study the source of Pakistani culture, Dr M.S. Jilani, Head of the Department, disclosed yesterday. The museum, he said, will be the first one of its kind in Pakistan. It will have specimens, such as pots, jugs, ornaments and household effects etc., dating back to 4,000 years of our culture and civilisation. A study into the shape, pattern, and markings of these specimens will be undertaken by the students and compared with their modern counterparts to determine the intensity of influence left by the Greeks, Arabs, Turks, Persians, Moghals and the English on them, said Dr Jilani.

The University has provided the furniture for the museum and has appointed Mr Ansar Hasan Kizalbash as its Curator. Dr Jilani himself undertook a tour of West Pakistan recently and went up to Torkham to collect specimens and to study the collection of the other museums of West Pakistan. Four students of the Department were sent on an extensive tour of former Sind area for the same purpose. The Archaeology Department of Pakis­tan has also extended its facilities to the proposed museum. Initially, the study will concentrate on the culture of former Sind.

Published in Dawn, September 30th, 2014