TOBA TEK SINGH: A Kamalia revenue department team led by Assistant Commissioner Irfan Hinjra on Tuesday retrieved the decades-old Harappa Museum archaeology land near the river Ravi.

Harappa Museum assistant curator Ahmad Nawaz Tippu told reporters that 660 artifacts including terracotta objects, bowls, humans moulds, animal and human figurines, clay beads, iron objects, bangles of shell, glass and copper, and stone objects consisting of pestles and whetstones had been discovered during excavation. He said the ceramic assemblage from stratified layers showed their utilitarian nature.

He said Kamalia tehsil’s centuries-old mound (Tibba Singarwala) had been encroached upon for long and the suspects were not giving it back despite repeated reminders by the archaeology department.

Mr Tippu said the revenue department officials also confirmed that 20 acre had been allotted to the archaeology department which was shown in Kamalia tehsil’s revenue record of Jama’bandi of 2008 but the encroachers claimed that land was owned by them for the last several decades. He added that antiques dating back from fourth to 16th century had been discovered during the initial excavation of the mound and an archaeology department team headed by a former Harappa Museum curator (now Lahore deputy director) Muhammad Hassan had carried out the excavations in 2010, which was completed in 2011.

It is 45-foot high from the surrounding area and about 70 to 80 structures including cattle pens have been constructed on it without any approval. Before starting work on archaeological excavations, notices were issued to the mound dwellers to vacate the state land under the Antiquities Act 1975 and the matter was discussed by the Archaeology Department officials with the then Toba DCO Amanullah Khan in the light of the directions of the Supreme Court, he further stated. He said according to the SC directions, the DCs were responsible for the removal of encroachments.

He further informed the dwellers had filed a case in the court of a Toba civil judge, seeking stay order against the department. Their plea was turned down due to the documentary proof of the department.

Published in Dawn, January 27th, 2021