Islamabad
The three prized possessions people of Sindh elegantly flaunt
are Ajrak on their chests, Sindhi Topi on their heads and smile on their faces
while every individual can raise a full throated slogan- “Kal bhi Bhutto Zinda
tha- Aaj bhi Bhutto Zinda hay” for the reasons best known to them.
During educational excursion of journalists from Islamabad and
Lahore to the Province of Sindh, we have chanced to visit few of educational
institutions recently upgraded/ set up by the Higher Education Commission which
we found amazingly designed with having state of the art technology.
Other than visiting historical Lang lake (resort), one of the
largest settlement of the oldest civilization Mohenjodaro, the pride of
Pakistan’s Irrigation system- Sukkur Barrage and the majestic Kot Diji Fort
were few of our stopover places.
Riazul Haq from Express Tribune contributes: One of
the victims of the much-hyped devolution post-18th amendment is cultural
heritage. The subject may not seem important enough for decision-makers to
dwell upon, but a single glimpse of these invaluable relics tells that they are
screaming for attention.
The Fort of Kot Diji, a glory of the past built in the heart of
Sindh – Khairpur – is in ruins and nobody bothers to even talk about it, maybe
because it is not the top priority or will ever be.
A visit to this epic masterpiece of the Talpur dynasty shows a
sadistic picture which triggers feelings of gloominess and gives a prime
example of how a state’s neglect can cost the nation to this extent.
The fort was built in 1785 by Mir Sohrab Khan Talpur, also the
founder of the Kingdom in northern Sindh. The fort is situated in the Kot Diji
town which is a few miles east of the Indus River and at the edge of
Nara-Rajasthan desert.
At the entrance of the main gate to the fort, a drug addict is
begging for a few rupees and a middle-aged man is selling plastic toys on his
wooden cart.
“A few years back there used to be traditional dresses and replicas
of antiques but now the number of visitors to the fort has gone down so nothing
sells here,” said a local shopkeeper, sitting in his shop a few yards away.
The entrance to the main 18 feet gate is through a small four feet
gate. Both the gates have huge (two feet) pointed edges made of iron probably
to stop elephants as during the era when the fort was built elephants were used
in war.
The plaque inside the fort reads that it was constructed on a
limestone hill with kiln-baked bricks. The hill is about 110 feet high and the
fort has walls 30 feet higher. It has three strategically placed towers about
50 feet tall.
The fort is divided by three elephant-proof gates into as many
overlapping levels with walls segmenting about 50 bastions and an 18 kilometres
boundary wall, easily witnessed from the highway. All the walls and bastions
have arrow-slits allowing defenders to attack their enemy from a decent height.
Besides the bastions and towers, an ammunition depot, water
reservoir, the harem, probably for Mir(s), a prison, a place for holding court
and cells for accommodation of guards and sepoys are also part of the fort.
The fort was never attacked due to its strategic location and
well-planned construction, but the march of aging, coupled with the apathy of
the Sindh and federal governments, has aged the beautiful building.
Before devolution, the federal government had the possession of this fort while in 2011 it was handed over to the Sindh province as part of the devolution of Ministry of Culture.
Scattered and broken bricks, deteriorating bastions, and absence of
caretakers or anyone from the management tells the tale of the colossal
neglect.
Altaf Aseem is a member of the consultative committee on
Mohen-jo-Daro and a former anthropology teacher at Shah Abdul Latif University
Khairpur.
He lamented that in 2007 when the then minister for culture arrived
at the fort and asked him how much had been allocated in this budget for the
fort, the reply that Rs5,000 had been allocated for the renovation and
conservation, surprised him.
In the same breath, he said, “The Sindh government, after 2011,
could have done better.”Another aspect he highlighted is that the government
gives renovation work to contractors with no experience of handling and working
on such buildings which spoils the existing vibes.*
