HYDERABAD: Renowned experts of archaeology have said Sindh needs strong conservation laws and technically sound institutions to preserve its cultural heritage and called for the creation of an authority to look after historic forts that have fallen into decay.

They said the grand and magnificent structure of Pucca Qila had been crumbling for decades but nothing had been done so far to rehabilitate it. A scheme for the fort’s conservation had been launched but its fate was not known, they said.

The experts, Dr Kaleem Lashari and Ishtiaq Ansari, were discussing the state of cultural heritage in Sindh at a session of the Hyderabad Literature Festival (HLF) at Sindh Museum on Friday evening.

Dr Lashari said that there was no dearth of funds and referred to the launch of Rs1 billion endowment fund for the preservation of heritage.

He said that when he proposed to the former chief minister Qaim Ali Shah the creation of an institution named after Dr Nabi Bux Baloch, he immediately approved the summary.

Sindh lacked strong conservation laws, he said.

Mr Ansari proposed creation of an authority to look after and preserve historic forts and said that many forts were in a fragile condition and badly needed preservation.

Two Urdu writers, Rafaqat Hayat and Kashif Raza, said at a session titled ‘Urdu literature and Sindhi society’ that they could confidently say that Sindhi-speaking readers read Urdu literature more than Sindhi literature.

They said that Urdu writers had fallen prey to expediencies and did not write on historic realities. They called for translating Urdu masterpieces into Sindhi and vice versa to help bridge rural-urban divide, he said.

PPP MNA Nafisa Shah, whose book on honour killing Ghairat benaqab, was launched at a session, said that her book was a journey. It was an outcome of her initial experience as a journalist which gave her an opportunity to work on at least 1,400 cases of honour killings, she said.

She said that those who were accused of honour killing were given protection by the state as the laws did not consider it a crime. The state was weaker than elites and influential persons who held sway in society. Honour killing was a social behaviour and it could be changed through the power of society, she said.

Political analyst and owner of a Sindhi media house, Ali Kazi, said that the change he was aspiring for could only be brought about by the people of Sindh themselves through their wise use of vote.

He said the ‘unity day’ that had now become a feature in Sindh was in fact in reaction to a peculiar attitude to Sindhis which had been witnessed over the decades.

Published in Dawn, January 8th, 2017