BAHAWALPUR: The site of Ganweriwala, the ancient city of the Indus Civilisation in Cholistan desert, would be converted into a tourism centre. The excavation at the site, over 100km from Bahawalpur city, started on Friday.

The announcement regarding the tourism centre at Ganweriwala was made by Bahawalpur Commissioner Dr Ehtasham Anwar Mahaar in the opening ceremony of the excavation.

He was flanked by Punjab Archaeology Director General Shozeb Saeed, Dr Rafique Mughal, Professor of Emeritus at the Boston University, and heritage expert Sajida Vandal.

After launching the excavation, the commissioner said the 7,000 years old Ganweriwala was buried across the area of over eighty hectares and it was the second largest city after Mohenjodaro. He described the day of excavation as historic and hoped that excavation would lead to the discoveries regarding the world’s oldest civilization of Hakra river.

Excavation launched at buried city along dead Hakra river

He thanked Punjab Governor Balighur Rehman for providing funds for the excavation. Dr Mahaar lauded Dr Mughal whose research led to discovery of Ganweriwala. He said that measures would be taken to include Ganweriwala in the UN’s permanent heritage list as the historical Derawar Fort has already been included in the UN’s temporary heritage list.

The commissioner announced that museums would be established in the Cholistan desert after preservation and restoration of 19 forts and over 500 historical sites and monuments.

Veteran archaeologist Dr Rafiq Mughal said Ganweriwala was a small city compared to Mohenjordaro but bigger than Harappa. He said the cities like Harappa and Mohenjodaro were generally settled at the heights and a central dune and Ganweriwala was also settled over a mound.

Sajida Vandal, the CEO of Thaap, said the sand dunes of Ganweriwala were traced in 1975 by Dr Rafiq Mughal and the city was located 60km south-west of Derawar Fort. She added Ganweriwala was located in the middle of Mohenjodaro and Harappa and its distance from Mohenjodario was 340km while from Harappa it was 260km. She lamented that despite the discovery of the remains in 1975 by Dr Mughal, its excavation could not be taken. She disclosed that the experts had observed the existence of the walls of mud bricks, which were also found at various places in the Sindh valley. She said clay pottery and artefacts like a tongawala, a sculpture, a bronze seal and a Goali of mud had been found at Ganweriwala.

Shozeb Saeed said that the archaeology department realised the significance of the Ganweriwala excavation project and assured that it would continue work on the project in the coming days. He stressed the need to unearth the hidden treasures of Cholistan’s Hakra civilization and its possible connection with Mohenjodaro as it seemed that the Hakra civilisation was the oldest in the world.

Published in Dawn, March 2nd, 2024