The KPK government’s attempt to pass a new KP Antiquities Act 2015 in order to preserve heritage sites and artifacts is a welcome move, especially given the very real threat that places or objects with history attached to them currently face. Lahore’s battle with the government and the Orange Line Metro’s construction taking precedence over the preservation of heritage sites is still turning more heads when compared to the absolute plunder that ancient archeological sites near Charsadda are undergoing. Diggers looking to make a quick million look for any trinkets and statues they can get their hands on, not realising that these are priceless objects, some dating as far back as 1000 BC. The situation is akin to the California gold rush in 1848, and landowners are now leasing swathes of lands to diggers, who pay handsome amounts for the potential millions that they can make if they strike lucky.
While previous laws in the shape of the Federal Antiquities Act of 1975 and the NWFP Antiquities Act 1997 are already in place to prevent such violations from taking place, with an imprisonment penalty of three years and an undeclared fine included in the latter, it seems that little is being done to bring the perpetrators to justice. The new law has yet to be officially released, but a fine of Rs 2 million is on the cards for the diggers and traders of illegally recovered artifacts. The provincial cabinet unanimously approved the new act, but it remains to be seen how the provincial assembly will react to it. However, a positive response is expected, with the bill set to pass as quickly as possible.
Unfortunately, getting the act to pass through the assembly is only doing half the job. The implementation of the laws protecting antiquities and heritage sites is where the government has failed before, and still continues to do so. Reports coming in from sites of KPK where illegal digging is commonplace suggest that the diggers operate with impunity and sometimes under broad daylight, even though the police deny this claim. Countless artifacts have already been removed, with an unknown number still buried, lying only a few feet deep to be removed by anyone with a shovel, considering that trained archeologists are not doing any of the excavation. If that were to change, and the sites are taken over by the archeology department, with regular digs that are undertaken with the utmost care, the diggers might soon be driven out, with the law then acting as final deterrent.