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HomeGo To PakistanCan Pakistan's Mohenjo-daro be rescued? Historians call for urgent action

Can Pakistan’s Mohenjo-daro be rescued? Historians call for urgent action

Negligence has led to delays in the removal of flood water from the UNESCO World Heritage Site.

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New Delhi: Bright blue tarpaulins on the Mound of the Dead in Mohenjo-daro are a constant reminder of the fate of the ancient city in Pakistan’s southern Sindh Province. Walls over 4,000 years old have collapsed. The Paris Stairs, Stupa, Great Bath and other ruins have been severely damaged.

As historians, archaeologists and students the world over watch the tragedy unfold, there are fears that Mohenjo-daro may be beyond rescue.

“Proper assessment of the damage needs to be done to understand the extent of destruction that has occurred. One doesn’t know the complete extent of damage. So it’s hard to judge how much can be repaired as of yet,” said Pooja Thakur, professor of ancient Indian history at Ramjas College, University of Delhi (DU).

The clock is ticking

Mohenjo-daro also risks losing its UNESCO World Heritage Site status if the site is not restored in time by the Pakistan Department of Archaeology. This could be a huge blow for Pakistan.

“This UNESCO status gives these sites protection, funding and helps in preserving them. Within this status, it is incumbent on the State to control various elements like tourism, create ecological policies to protect these sites from anything that may cause them harm. I believe it would be highly detrimental for the Mohenjo-daro to lose its status,” said Thakur.


Also read: Climate change may have finished off Indus Valley Civilisation


Battling floods

The advanced drainage system of the Indus Valley civilisation is a characteristic feature of the sites in Mohenjo-daro. In the past, flood events have reportedly played a critical role in preventing inundation. But not this time.

“Since these drainage systems haven’t been entirely dug out, they cannot exactly act as a defence against such heavy floods. Only parts and pieces of it have been restored as of now,” said Syed Ali Nadeem Rezavi, professor of medieval Indian history and medieval archaeology at Aligarh Muslim University (AMU).

Recent events have given fresh impetus to debates on the fall of the Indus Valley Civilisation that Mohenjo-daro was a part of.

According to professor Thakur from Ramjas College, many debates have suggested flooding as one of the causes due to its proximity to the Indus river.


Also read: New study shows climate change caused decline of flourishing Indus Valley Civilisation


Assessing the damage

Discovered in 1922, this UNESCO World Heritage site was once considered among the best-preserved urban settlements in South Asia. “Although these ruins are not inundated with water, persistent rainfall has eroded them,” Ihsan Ali Abbasi, site curator of the ruins, told The Guardian.

Between 16 and 26 August, the archaeological ruins of Mohenjo-daro received 779.5 mm of rain, leading to the collapse of several walls, including the protection wall of the stupa dome.

“Several big walls which were built nearly 5,000 years ago have collapsed because of the monsoon rains,” Abbasi told The Guardian.

He had sent a letter to the Director of Culture, Antiquities and Archaeology on 29 August informing them that they had used all their resources to protect the heritage sites. However, negligence stemming from irrigation, roads, highways and forest departments led to delays in the removal of water from the historical site.

While Abbasi had advised that expert conservators and engineers be sent to assess the damage caused during the downpours, officials are yet to arrive.

Other heritage sites in the area in Pakistan have also suffered damage due to incessant flooding. Shah Baharo and Tajjar buildings in Larkana, graves in the Mian Noor Mohammad Kalhoro graveyard in Moro, the drum of the Buddhist stupa at Thul Mir Rukan and the Makli monuments in Thatta and Bhambore have all faced deterioration due to water flowing from sewage lines.

“Whatever we have restored has been damaged. There is not a single place left in Sindh where heritage remains intact; be it Kot Diji, Ranikot, Shahi Mahal, White Palace, Faiz Mahal, the historic imam bargahs, bungalows or public dispensaries,” said Hamid Akhund, Secretary of the Endowment Fund Trust (EFT) for the Preservation of Heritage of Sindh.


Also read: Archeologist who found 4,500-yr-old skeletons in Haryana doesn’t buy Aryan invasion theory


Protection from climate change

With the increasingly unprecedented nature of climate change-related natural disasters across the globe, it has become crucial to protect these heritage sites before their history is lost forever.

“Every effort should be made to protect these sites by both Pakistani and Indian archaeological agencies as well as world organisations. Such sites are very important to understand the cultural heritage of the subcontinent and thus need to be protected,” said Rezavi.

While organisations such as UNESCO have guidelines on how to preserve and protect such historic sites during times of war and calamity, these guidelines are not initiated in time and countries lack a level of preparedness to execute them.

“These organisations are creating protocols coming out of crises which put heritage sites under threat, such as the war in Croatia or the floods in Pakistan,” said Thakur

UN Secretary-General António Guterres will travel to flood-hit Pakistan on 9 September and is expected to visit Mohenjo-daro on 11 September to “assess” the ruins,  says Firstpost.

(Edited by Zoya Bhatti)

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