Inherited history

This refers to the editorial, ‘Inherited history’ (August 21). Our country is endowed with many historic sites of invaluable heritage. While some of these sites are protected, many others escape the notice of the authorities concerned. The result is that only some of the sites have been declared threatened.
Last year, the land mafia occupied Sir Henry Holland Eye Hospital in Shikarpur, a ‘national heritage site’. Apart from the philanthropic aspect, this was also a monumental building which was a fabulous model of architecture for having classical archaeological structure and design. In the Malir district, historic sites were grabbed in the same fashion by the land mafia with no action taken against those involved despite a campaign launched by the civil society. A number of monuments of considerable historical antiquity and artefact have been stolen from our museums, owing to the criminal negligence of the Culture Department, Sindh. The Sindh Cultural Heritage (Preservation) Act 1994 needs to be amended, besides enacting antiquities law to help protect our heritage.
Riaz Mahar
Sukkur