DADU: Well-known historian, scholar and writer Professor Aziz Kingrani has expressed his concern over neglect of Mughal, Kalhora and Talpur era relics, artifacts and other rare articles at various historical and heritage sites situated within the Kachho belt of Dadu district.

Speaking to reporters at the Dadu Press Club on Saturday, Prof Kingrani drew the attention of the federal and Sindh governments, as well as other stakeholders including non-governmental organisations working for the preservation and rehabilitation of heritage sites, to the crumbling structures of tombs, graves, graveyards, mosques, shrines and other historical sites belonging to the three eras.

“The present condition of these national heritage sites shows that they are victims of unpardonable neglect. They are vanishing fast but no one bothers to pay any attention to the decaying structures. We are going to lose our priceless assets which must have been taken care of on a top priority basis,” he said.

Unfortunately, he said, the authorities concerned seemed to have not even considered preservation of these monuments and the relics and other historical objects found everywhere at these sites.

Presenting a picture of the sorry state of the sites, Prof Kingrani the painting depicting the Mughal, Kalhora and Talpur era art were decaying as many of the tiles, stones and plaster on which they were painted had already fallen down, badly damaging the pieces.

The art works once adorned the tomb of Mian Yar Mohammad Kalhoro, Jami Mosque of Khudabad, tomb of Jango Khan Jangwani and many other tombs, shrines and mosques.

Heritage lovers, experts, historians and tourists used to keenly visit them until a few decades back, he added.

The historian referred to the other historical tombs including those of Mian Naseer Mohammad Kalhoro and Muradani Jamali at the graveyards named after them and also those present in the Qalandaryani Leghari graveyard.

Numerous other such sites are situated in Larkana, Qambar-Shahdadkot, Nawabshah and Hyderabad but the condition of these sites at present is no different, according to him.

He told reporters that the Kalhora dynasty dated back to 1701 to 1783 and the Talpur dynasty 1775-1811. The relics belonging to these dynasties and the artworks and artifacts depicting the Mughal era and British rule must have been preserved at any cost but the present state of the invaluable heritage reflected the amount of interest shown by successive governments.

Prof Kingrani, who has specially worked on the artworks painted on the walls of the

sites recently, observed that neglect and vagaries of the weather had caused irreparable loss to them. However, he added, the government and NGOs could still preserve whatever was left to take visitors to the history and help researchers explore the art, culture and lifestyles of those eras.

He said the remnants of heritage was under threat and the entire nation should save it from getting vanished.

Published in Dawn October 23rd, 2016