PESHAWAR, Aug 5: Speakers at a national seminar have demanded effective steps to stop plundering of archaeological sites and illegal export of antiquities from Pakistan by strengthening relevant institutes and implementation of relevant laws.

Speakers at the recent ninth national seminar on ‘Pakistan Archaeology’ adopted several resolutions at its concluding session held in Baragali, the summer camp of the University of Peshawar.

The archaeologists and academicians proposed that the sites and monuments in Sindh, Balochistan and the NWFP be handed over to the provincial governments as had been done in Punjab, said a press release issued by the directorate of Archaeology and Museums here on Friday.

Provincial heritage funds should be established by the governments of Sindh, Balochistan and the NWFP for maintenance of the cultural heritage, the archaeologists suggested.

Abbottabad and Kashgar have recently been declared sister cities and Lahore and Xian have also remained sister cities for sometime. A joint seminar should be arranged at one of those cities to undertake joint studies and research for exploring ancient links between the two societies, the speakers urged.

Multidisciplinary research involving archaeologists, environmentalists, sociologists and civil engineers should be conducted for a full understanding of man’s history and prehistory in Pakistan, in a wider context of the surrounding countries, they said.

The speakers also proposed that the subject of archaeology be introduced in the colleges of Sindh, Punjab and Balochistan and also at the CSS and PCS competitive examinations.

The federal and provincial tourism and archaeology departments be developed and upgraded, they proposed.

While pointing out that no textbooks were available on Pakistan archaeology, they called for introducing textbooks on archaeology for the students of intermediate and degree level.

The national seminar on Pakistan archaeology should also be sponsored by other institutes and it should become an annual event. Its proceedings should be published. Special theme-oriented seminars should be organized to resolve differences and coordinate the results of new research being conducted on topics like Indus Valley Civilization and Gandhara Grave Culture, the speakers suggested.

They proposed that the teaching and administrative departments of archaeology be allowed to excavate sites in their areas so that they could train archaeologists and save heritage.

The archaeologists of Pakistan and the world should be given an opportunity to communicate through a website to be established by one of the archaeology departments, they suggested.

They proposed that a united forum with the name of the Association of Archaeologists in Pakistan be constituted for sharing the research contributions and taking care of the needs and problems of the archaeologists of the country.