LAHORE, March 9: Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali is said to have refused to reevaluate his decision to hand over the federally-controlled Lahore Fort and Shalamar Gardens to the Punjab despite pressure at the last cabinet meeting.

According to sources in the federal and provincial archaeology departments, two ministers at the meeting were of the view that the decision would create legal complications. They also proposed that the government should take the World Heritage Centre into confidence on the issue as both the monuments were on the World Heritage List (WHL).

The PM had announced the decision at a programme in the Lahore Fort last month. A six-member Committee on Decentralization of Monuments, headed by former Peshawar University archaeology department chairman Farid Khan, submitted its report to the federal culture ministry two weeks ago, recommending that the WHL monuments must not be transferred to provinces. However, the PM set aside the recommendation.

The monuments on the WHL include the archaeological site of Moenjodaro, historic monuments of Thatha, archaeological remains of Taxila, Buddhist ruins of Takht Bhai, the city remains at Sehri Bahlol, Rohtas Fort, Lahore Fort and Shalamar Gardens.

The committee was formed last July under a directive of President Gen Pervez Musharraf to ascertain whether or not monuments under the control of the federal archaeology department could be transferred to provinces.

Officials of the archaeology department were of the view that committee's seven-month effort of working out modalities regarding decentralization of monuments had proved futile. They said: "Had the prime minister gone through committee's report, he might not have taken the decision."

Meanwhile, the culture ministry has forwarded the report to the cabinet. Sources said the Punjab governor and the chief minister had requested the prime minister for administrative control of only the Lahore Fort and Shalamar Gardens, both of which were good venues for cultural functions.

The sources said that last month's provincial government-sponsored light and show programme in the fort had provided an opportunity to the Punjab to bring the issue to limelight.

The federal government often refuses to allow the provincial administration to organize such activities at protected monuments in order to save them from vandalism.

The federal archaeology department controls 149 monuments in Punjab, 88 in the NWFP, 127 in Sindh and 28 in Balochistan. The Punjab archaeology department controls 244 monuments, Sindh only a few while the NWFP and Balochistan have none under their control.

The federal archaeology department has more than 1,100 employees, while the staff of all the provincial archaeology departments combined number around 250. The federal archaeology department officials said the Punjab archaeology department was being headed by a non-professional.

Besides, the department neither had funds nor technical staff like architects, engineers, excavators, anthropologists, curators and conservators.

Punjab archaeology director Shahbaz Khan said that after notification of the decision, the department would either recruit more staff or put the gardeners and baildars currently working at the two monuments on its payroll.

Dispelling the impression that Punjab could not take proper care of the monuments, he said that an advisory committee would be constituted with officials of the federal archaeology department among its members to take decisions on allowing private or official functions at the fort or the gardens.