Pakistan dam to destroy heritage

Over 30,000 rock carvings and inscriptions are to be lost in around eight years time when the Diamer Basha Dam is flooded in northern Pakistan. The carvings range from early hunter-gatherer motifs dated to ca. 5000 BP, to countless messages written in as many as 39 different scripts due to being along the route of the Silk Road. This was reported during the past week by the Associated Press.

Although the AP article doesn’t mention it, the dam has also been opposed by local people who will be displaced, and also by India, due to the likelihood of it causing flooding across the border also (Times of India).

While it is stated that an attempt will be made to relocate the most unique carvings, it is sad that no effort appears to have been made to oppose the dam based on the tourism potential that both the Silk Road and the carvings hold. This could be a more sustainable option, providing income for local people rather than displacement and the likely little to no compensation. It would also mean that future generations of all Pakistanis would be able to enjoy their rich cultural heritage, rather than the environmental legacy of a destroyed landscape at the end of the project’s lifetime in around a hundred years.

As with many such projects, it should not be taken for granted that the energy produced will benefit the populace as a whole. It may in reality only be used for short-term profit by industrialists well connected enough to have gotten governmental support for the enterprise. In the meantime, locals, Pakistanis, and the rest of the world lose.

Published: 4.26.08 / 5pm
Tags: archaeology, conservation, pakistan, politics, rock art