LAHORE: Civil society organisations have alleged that rather than answering concerns raised by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco) and International Council on Monuments and Sites (Icomos), the Punjab government has lied to the World Heritage Committee (WHC) as it has been doing to citizens over the course of the Orange Line Metro Train project.

In a press release, the Lahore Conservation Society and Pakistan Civil Society Forum stated that multiple news items have appeared in various newspapers, some implying that the WHC has endorsed the train project, which is untrue.

It further stated that the draft decision by Icomos in light of Pakistan’s lack of implementation of decisions made in the council’s 40th session was extremely damning as it expressed “extreme concern” over the impact of Orange Line train on the Outstanding Universal Value of the Shalamar Gardens. It also regretted that the “State Party did not invite the Reactive Monitoring Mission and that no exhaustive impact assessments for this project” was conducted, thus suggesting that Shalamar Gardens and Lahore Fort be put on the List of World Heritage in Danger.

However, rather than answering the concerns raised by Unesco and Icomos, the Punjab government “lied” to the WHC members.

The press release quoted Sibtain Fazal, managing director of Punjab Mass Transit Authority, as speaking for Pakistan state at the WHC meeting stated that “we have not been able to invite the reactive mission so far because the issue of Shalamar Gardens is pending adjudication within the honourable Supreme Court of Pakistan. Legal propriety compels us to wait for the court’s decision before inviting the mission”.

The civil society further said that it needed to be clarified that the Unesco mission was independent of the court case and had not been allowed to visit because it would weaken the government’s case by providing an independent expert opinion. Fazal further put the onus on adherence to domestic laws for not completing the “visual impact study” for Shalamar Gardens as required by the committee last year. While domestic laws are being used as an excuse for delaying carrying out the study, the government has flouted labour, environmental and heritage laws to continue with the project construction, the non-governmental organisations alleged.

Lastly, Fazal also stated that “consultants of the project considered all possible alignment options in front of Shalamar Gardens” when the tunnel boring technology, which has been advocated by civil society to preserve the gardens as well as other heritage sites, was never considered owing to politically driven timeline.

The organisations further alleged that Pakistan lobbied heavily with other state parties through its 16-member delegation by misrepresenting facts to ensure that the WHC decision was watered down. However, Unesco could not take a decision regarding Orange Line’s impact on Shalamar Gardens till a Reaction Monitoring Mission visited the site. Thus, the government’s tactics only delayed rather than resolved the issue at the expense of public money, the statement concluded.

Published in Dawn, July 11th, 2017