May 8, 2004

Ever since Viceroy Lord Curzon established the Department of Archaeology in the subcontinent in 1901, the responsibility of looking after historical monuments, and what in the modern idiom is known as the national heritage, has been its exclusive function. The department in Pakistan has been performing this duty to the best of its ability and, during the last century, has acquired valuables experience and expertise in the job.

It is another matter that (as bewailed by me in this column before) the department does not have a budget sufficient even for carrying out day-to-day repairs at the hundreds of old structures on which it displays the legend “Protected Monument” and warns the public that causing it any damage or defacement will render the culprit liable to fine and imprisonment. The reason, as I have been able to see over the decades, is not that the government is short of money but because culture receives a low priority with it and the culture minister is always kept strapped of cash.

But now, in response to persistent demands from the provinces, the prime minister has decided that part of the heritage, if not all, should be transferred to their governments for which they will have to institute new set-ups. He made this announcement in Lahore some time ago. Some basic administrative structure already exists in the provinces, except in Balochistan. And that province will be only too happy to take on the responsibility. Our governments are as greedy about new power and fresh authority as the officers who constitute them.

While the federal ministry of culture constituted a special committee last year to draw up the details, there are some important questions that remain to be decided. It is not a simple matter of transferring control, because the extensive staff and experts on the payroll of the centre cannot automatically become provincial government servants by a stroke of the pen, while the provinces would certainly require adequate trained staff of their own to enable them to do justice to the work.

As is usual in such matters, there are two schools of thought on what should be done. One is for acceding to the desire of the provinces on grounds of local sentiment and the other is dead against any transfer of authority in this behalf because it feels that the provinces are not fully equipped to take on the job. However, a via media will have to be found since the basic decision has been taken.

Talking of local sentiment it was on the basis of this very consideration that the demand was originally made for transfer of the heritage to Punjab and Sindh. They had averred that since many of the monuments were located in their area, and the people were emotionally attached to them, the provincial governments would be able to pay them more attention and spend more money on them than the federal authorities. Although, to speak the truth, I do not know of any monument except the shrines of saints that evokes even a remote semblance of historical sentiment.

One view in this behalf is that archaeological excavations — at Taxila, Harappa and Moenjodaro, and at the numerous other places started after independence — need not be given over to the provinces since there is no sentiment attached to them, all of them being of pre-history times. The opinion is also being expressed that the eight sites and monuments placed by Unesco on the World Heritage List should remain with the centre because only the federal government is authorized to deal with that international body which is deeply interested in their welfare. I am sure all these points of view are being debated by the special committee.

The three provinces with some set-ups on the ground had argued that whereas the maintenance and repair of the heritage was the duty of the federal archaeology department, it was unable to protect precious monuments from vandals and careless visitors without seeking the help of the law and order authorities which were under the provincial governments. Thus there was needless dichotomy so far as their actual protection was concerned. There are a little over 400 protected monuments in the country.

The special committee is said to be looking into the relevant legislation, viz. the federal Antiquities Act, the Punjab Special Premises Preservation Ordinance, the Sindh Cultural Heritage Preservation Act and the NWFP Antiquities Act, in order to bring about uniformity in them and to achieve harmony in their application. The study began in the year 2001 when President Pervez Musharraf issued a directive to determine the feasibility of a centre-to-provinces transfer of the subject.

I do not recall now what prompted the president to issue the directive. I think it was a routine meeting called by him to take stock of the situation of work and performance and funds in the various ministries that he used to convene at that time since he was also the chief executive. But he did express the view in the meeting about the ministry of culture that perhaps the private sector could be roped into the preservation and restoration business as many prestigious national industries would like to furnish funds for it as a measure of publicity and public relations.

Later, he gave evidence of this viewpoint when he specially visited the Rohtas Fort (one of the monuments on Unesco’s heritage list) to witness a sound-and-light show there and see the restoration work that a multinational company was conducting at its own expense. The company had taken over one of the massive gateways of the fort to bring back its old glory and had also sponsored a set-up calculated to attract tourists to the site. An illustrated article on the visit was published in Gallery last year.

Many observers link the move with the spirit of provincial autonomy in cultural matters, and cite the example of advanced western countries where buildings and monuments of historical interest (as also the tourist industry) are the responsibility of city administrations. While some provincial observers foresee that, with the devolution plan in place, these structures might well become the responsibility of the local bodies, that is looking too far ahead. In any case the local bodies are not yet equipped for this specialized purpose and are hardly able to meet the expectations of the people in respect of their civic needs.

The fact remains that, in Punjab, Sindh and the Frontier, there are some active bodies of public-spirited citizens who are passionately interested in the heritage and want to involve themselves, in particular, with the onerous task of the restoration of monuments which have suffered from the vagaries of time. This is a very expensive business and there is always the question of where the funds will come from. To cite an instance, for repairs to parts of the Lahore Fort some years ago, apart from the expense involved, artisans and red sandstone had to be imported from India.

But the enthusiasm of these bodies certainly evokes admiration, specially when they express the view that with the involvement of the private sector in preservation and restoration work they would be able to cross many hurdles and handicaps associated with the government’s dilatory way of doing things and unavoidable administrative red-tape. Good luck to them and their noble ambitions!