ISLAMABAD, April 23: Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz has stressed the need for preservation of cultural heritage to promoting tourism.

“It is not only crucial for restoration of the beauty and grandeur of the past but also for the economic development of the country that will foster local culture and promote tourism,” he said at a light and sound programme at the nearly 500-year-old Rohtas Fort near Jhelum.

While pledging his government’s support in the restoration and preservation of the fort built by Emperor Sher Shah Suri in 1541, the prime minister urged the corporate sector and the civic society to help in the endeavour.

“This is an immense and ambitious project and cannot be taken on by one sector alone. A real difference can be made in building the future and preserving the past through public- private partnership,” he said.

Dr Anisur Rehman of the Himalayan Conservation Foundation informed the premier about the Rohtas Fort conservation project being carried out by the Ministry of Culture in association with a global oil company and non-government organisations.

“We owe the preservation of the fort to the future generation in leaving them something to cherish and be proud of,” said the oil company’s representative, Farooq Rehmatullah, on the occasion.

In addition his company has undertaken conservation of Mohatta palace in Karachi and Bibi Jawandi tomb in Uch.

It has also signed a $600,000 partnership agreement with the United Nations Development Programme to prevent deforestation in the Galiat area and provide an alternative fuel, liquid petroleum gas to the local community.

Rohtas, in its present condition, represents Pakistan’s pressing environmental needs for sustainable development and job creation, greater grass-roots participation in the environment and more government revenue allocation for the mobilisation of high-quality expertise and technologies.

Rohtas is now a protected monument under the Antiquities Act 1975, and maintained by the Department of Archaeology. Owing to its marvellous qualities of strength and solidity, and being the finest specimen of mediaeval military architecture in Pakistan, Unesco inscribed the fort in the World Heritage List, in 1997.

Sprawling across a low rocky hill, a few miles north of Jhelum stands the magnificent Rohtas. Surpassing many other citadels in grandeur and massiveness, Rohtas is perhaps the only surviving example of pre-Mughal architecture in Pakistan.

Begun in 1541, it was built on the orders of the emperor Sher Shah Suri who named his frontier outpost Rohtas after the older hill fortress in Bar, India.

The commanding situation of the fort, with its awesome huge walls and trap gates makes it a unique piece of cultural heritage. The fort is now in ruins. These include massive outer walls, 12 gates and 68 bastions.

A high stone platform on the outer wall marks the execution tower from which victims were thrown to their death. The gates, built in sandstone, are massive and ornate.