It may be hard to believe but Pattan Minara, an ancient historical site about 15 kilometres east of Rahim Yar Khan has been sold out to influential land owners and may soon be demolished to smoothen ground for agricultural cultivation.
This startling disclosure was made to me by a senior local journalist and well known social worker, Chaudhry Abdul Khaliq Shakir, during our visit to the city in connection with a Pakistan Press Foundation Article Writing Workshop for degree level students of Government College for Women.
The aim of the workshop was to impart article writing skills to local educated women, almost 95 per cent of whom would sit at home doing nothing. With this skill they could create national awareness, highlighting important social issues specially issues relating to women and children of their area.
Once the workshop was over we drove to Pattan Minara, passing through lush green fields where rustic young women were engaged picking cotton, their good looking features darkened by over exposure to sun, their delicate hands scratched by cotton plant thorns. But the most saddening part of it all, picking one maund (40 kilos) of cotton, tiny flower by tiny flower, would get them a miserable Rs80 in wages.
But the story of Pattan Minara was even more saddening. Thanks to gross neglect, much of the ancient structure has already disintegrated into heap of bricks and stones. All that is left now is a dilapidated minaret like structure, standing in the middle of a brick platform on a heap of ruins. As we climbed the stairs leading to the Minara, we found the Archeological Department sign board lying half buried in dust, symbolizing the sad state to which this ancient architectural asset has been reduced.
Mr Shakir, who served as our guide on the trip, called the prayer leader from a nearby mosque, 55-year-old Maulvi Khalil Ahmed, a really knowledgeable person who narrated to us the story of Pattan Minara.
According to him, the history of Pattan Minara dates back to 326 BC. This was an area, lush green and fertile, perched on the bank of River Ghagra, an offshoot of River Indus. Contemporary to Moenjo Daro, Harrapa and Taxila, it witnessed rise and fall of various civilizations and dynasties, the Buddhists, Aryans, Brahmans, Soomras and the Afghans during the rule of Firoze Shah Tughlaq. Alexander the Great passed through the area during his military expedition to India. As was his practice, Alexander set up a cantonment here under a Greek governor. The Greeks in their time established a university complex here. But with passage of time, as the River Indus changed course and River Ghagra dried up, the place lost its importance and slowly turned into ruins.
In 1849, according to Maulvi Khalil Ahmed, a British archaeologist Colonel Minchen, following a local folklore, carried out excavations here, in search of a hidden treasure supposedly buried there, despite warnings that it was protected by mysterious spiritual forces. As Mr Ahmed would have us believe, Col Minchen did find a structure deep in earth, broke open an entrance but the diggers were attacked by poisonous flies, killing all of them on the spot. Panic spread and the hole was closed and quietly abandoned.
The story does not end there. As late as 1939, the prayer leader said, Nawab Sadiq Abbasi of Bahawalpur tried to search for the treasure with the help of army, backed by Hindu Jogis and other spiritualists, but failed to find anything.
Located a few hundred yards from Pattan Minara, is the historical Abu Bakr Mosque, which is currently looked after by Maulvi Khalil Ahmed. It was built by a local Muslim ruler, Mohammed Abu Bakr Sanwal Saeen, in 1849.
The place was originally a heathen temple, dedicated to Shiv Lung. When Nawab Abu Bakr came to know that even Muslim women were visiting the obscene fertility symbol of Shiv Lung, he ordered demolition of the temple and built a mosque in its place, which even today stands out prominently on a mound not far away from Pattan Minara.
A number of attempts were made by local administration to preserve and develop Pattan Minara as a historical site and a tourist resort. The last such attempt was made in 1993 when the deputy commissioner of Rahim Yar Khan, Anis Abbas Zaidi, approved a scheme to build a tourist complex and a park around Pattan Minara for which an initial amount of Rs1.3 million was allocated. The area was earmarked by a barbed wire and the digging of a water storage pond was started.
But the whole scheme fell into oblivion with the transfer of Mr Zaidi. And since then the most appalling development has been that the whole area surrounding Pattan Minara has been allotted as agricultural land to influential officers. People of the area said that the allotment could be verified from Patwari records where it is marked as Killa number 10 and 11 and Mustateel (Triangle) number 562.
One retired army captain reportedly got Pattan Minara in his “Raqba” (allotted area) and during a recent visit he discussed plans of getting rid of “this old and worthless structure” called Pattan Minara.
People fear that unless the authorities and the Archeological Department take immediate notice of the threat to Pattan Minara, this last remnant of a glorious ancient civilization may soon vanish from the face of the earth, leaving us to read about it in books.
It may be hard to believe but Pattan Minara, an ancient historical site about 15 kilometres east of Rahim Yar Khan has been sold out to influential land owners and may soon be demolished to smoothen ground for agricultural cultivation.
