KARACHI: “Disasters are not incidental or purely natural, they also happen as a consequence of our decisions,” said Kamil Khan Mumtaz, an architect, author and pioneer in the movement for the conservation of architectural heritage during his keynote address at the conference on ‘Disaster Management: Cultural Monuments and Heritage’ held in collaboration with Dawn Relief at the Arts Council of Pakistan here on Saturday.

The conference was convened in response to the recent heavy rains and flash floods in Sindh, which caused serious damage to several heritage sites and monuments in many districts including Hyderabad, Jamshoro, Dadu, Sanghar, Sukkur, Ghotki and Thatta. There has also been significant damage to the Ranikot Fort in Jamshoro district, Mohenjo Daro and Kot Diji, which were and still are under water.

“Land grabbing has been known to change maps now. Changes on the ground also take place in the name of development and progress. For example, we are still looking to build the Diamer Basha Dam, which will displace people. In Lahore, the Orange Line has endangered historical monuments,” Mr Mumtaz said.

“Our virsa, our inheritance also includes people and their surroundings where you also experience climate change, global warming, pollution, etc, subjects that are treated like the proverbial elephant in the room. But our views and thoughts are what make us human beings. They also tell us about our responsibilities to our surroundings. We don’t own the universe, we are to take care of it, protect and safeguard it,” he concluded.

Town planner Arif Hasan calls for mapping historical sites first and then protecting them

Architect and town planner Arif Hasan spoke about the future of Pakistan’s heritage. He said that during the 1980s he used to go to Mirpurkhas to picnic with his family under some trees near a stupa.

“Then the children grew up and got busy in their lives and we stopped going there. In 2002, when I next went there, I notice that bricks from the stupas were being used for other construction. The people using the bricks said that they were a gift from their ancestors,” he said.

He also said that he found a dining table of the Chaukandi Tombs with a glass top. “That’s how the east side of the tombs has disappeared. Some big officer comes and takes away what he likes,” he said.

He said that he also used to travel to Balochistan in the 1980s. “Not a single one of the 132 mausoleums or shrines that I saw there at the time exist now. The building material from them have all been reused in the construction of new buildings,” he said.

What is most important, he said, is not restoration or conservation. “It is to map historical sites and then protect them,” he said, adding that he has young people coming to him to know how they can protect their heritage. “We can train such youth to look after their heritage,” he said.

Barrister Shahab Usto said that school buildings, shrines or a feudal lord’s palace are the only structures that are still standing in the floods. He said that there was a need to start a dialogue on different tiers among stakeholders, community, political parties and the bureaucracy. “We need to start a cultural conversation with an intellectual approach to build a sense of ownership and pride in our heritage.”

Archaeologist and Chairperson of the Centre for Development and Conservation Dr Nilofer Shaikh shared her presentation about ‘Disaster management of built cultural heritage’.

DIG Pir Mohammed Bakhsh Shah shared his presentation and experience of working on the rehabilitation of the flood-hit people.

Academic researcher of Heritage Preservation Dr Anila Naeem shared her presentation about ‘Safeguarding historic sites and mitigating damage in disasters’.

Visual artist and art conservationist Sana Durani expressed her concerns for the sectors of the cultural heritage that are currently in dire need of a sustained, serious effort to develop national technical skills comprising professional art conservators.

The role of remote sensing and rapid site recording in disaster management was highlighted by Co-founder and Director of Maritime Archeology and Heritage Institute Amer Bazal Khan, who said that a timely assessment of high-resolution satellite data should be made a part of the disaster response for estimating the extent of the floods.

Executive Director, Centre for Culture and Development, Islamabad, Dr Nadeem Omar Tarar emphasised that a holistic understanding of the heritage at stake is the only way forward to take the complexity of heritage into account.

Director of the Museum and Art Gallery Department, State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), Dr Asma Ibrahim shared a presentation about disaster management at the SBP Museum.

Others who spoke included Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Endowment Fund Trust Jahangir Siddiqui, its Managing Trustee Hameed Haroon, Secretary Hamid Akhund, Curator and Director of the Mohatta Palace Museum Dr Nasreen Askari and senior journalist from Hyderabad Mohammed Hussain Khan.

A coffee table book Forts of Sindh was also launched on the occasion.

The conference proceedings also resulted in a collection of recommendations that were presented as potential strategies and guidelines to mitigate the potential risks for Sindh’s cultural monuments and heritage sites posed by any future disaster.

Published in Dawn, October 30th, 2022