Civil society perturbed over likely demolition of National Museum

Civil society organisations have expressed their concern over the Supreme Court’s decision to remove encroachments from Burnes Garden, which may also lead to the demolition of the National Museum of Pakistan located there.

During a discussion held at the office of the Endowment Fund Trust, civil society members pointed out that Culture, Tourism and Antiquities Preservation Secretary Akbar Laghari had said that the cultural site was in danger of being bulldozed and the historic artefacts may also get affected if they are to be transported elsewhere on an emergency basis.

Former culture secretary Hameed Akhund and architect Marvi Mazhar stressed that the museum was erected by the state and cannot come under encroachment. She added that the National Museum was established in 1951 at Frere Hall but upon realising its cultural importance, the government decided to construct a separate building at Burnes Gardens. The then president inaugurated the museum at Burnes Gardens on February 21, 1970.

“While we do appreciate the measures being taken to improve the city by removing encroachments from public spaces, the legal status of a building preserving the culture of a civilisation, constructed on an allotted land must also be taken into account,” said architect Arif Belgaumi.

The meeting participants decided that different bodies and organisations including the Arts Council, I am Karachi, Pur Sukoon Karachi and the Citizens Archive of Pakistan would write a letter to Justice Gulzar Ahmed of the Supreme Court and bring the issue to his notice.

Ahmad Shah of the Arts Council also said that the issue had also been brought to the notice of Sardar Shah, the newly sworn-in culture minister, who has assured that he would raise it in the cabinet meeting.

Shah Bukhari of the National Museum said that it has a collection of 56,000 rare coins, 10,000 manuscripts, 4,000 Gandhara artefacts, 50,000 rare images of different sites and 10,000 archaeological artefacts.

“Hence, the idea of transporting the museum is not practical because a space catering to them [the artefacts] already exists in the form of the museum building,” he said.

Complying with orders

The Sindh government closed downed the recently-opened and very popular Café Sindh also located in Burnes Garden earlier this week.

The decision drew ire on social media earlier this week, which promoted Laghari, the culture secretary, to issue a clarification stating that the government was complying with the top court’s orders.

According to the culture secretary’s statement, the building of the National Museum in Burnes Garden had to be demolished in line with the directives of the apex judiciary after shifting it to some other place.

“As per the directives of the Supreme Court of Pakistan and a subsequent meeting and a press conference by the chief secretary Sindh, all type of constructions and activities in parks are to be stopped and demolished,” the statement read.

It added: “Burnes Garden is a park where the Sindh culture department has many buildings. National Museum of Pakistan was constructed in 1970 which is to be shifted and then demolished. The office of the Director General Antiquities, 25 quarters for employees of the museum, a cultural village, Shamsher-ul-Hydri Auditorium and Cafe Sindh are to be demolished soon. Yesterday, we closed very famous Café Sindh with a heavy heart. All forthcoming literary and cultural activities have been cancelled in auditorium. Cultural village has been closed. It is once again clarified that these are the Supreme Court directives and the culture department along with all other departments is bound to comply [with them].”