LARKANA, March 13: Speakers at a workshop on ‘Moenjodaro conservation’ have underlined the need for conservation and preservation

of archaeological remains of

the Indus valley civilization

with a view to tracing missing links.

The two-week technical workshop has been organized by the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization and the Department of Archaeology and Museum at Moenjodaro and its inaugural session was held on Sunday.

Unesco-Pakistan director Jorge Sequeira called for developing national guidelines for the conservation work on archaeological sites.

He said the government of Pakistan must jointly evolve a mechanism to undertake conservation work.

The Unesco official said China had formulated principles and guidelines for conservation of their civilization.

“Experts only carry out conservation work in future following formulation of strategy by the government” he said.

He said after the conclusion of workshop Unesco would sit together with the government partners to workout the guidelines.

The director-general of the Archaeology and Museum, Pakistan, Dr Fazal Dad Kakar, said lack of methodology was threatening survival of already excavated structural remains which badly needed maintenance. He said 90 per cent of archaeological remains of Moenjodaro were buried which demanded careful conservation for continuity and primary source of information about the Indus valley civilization.