Where recent rains played an important role in causing excessive damage, the archeology department is also to be blamed for the dilapidated condition of some of the most important buildings of the Sindh cultural heritage.
Famous buildings including Umerkot fort, Nokot fort, Mohenjo-daro, Kahu Jo Drao, Kot Dejo jo Kilo, Jitori shrines and the shrines of the Talpure community in historical Chitori graveyard of Taluka Sindhri were adversely affected by the recent rains. Over 200 years old graves in the Chitori and Talpure graveyards, some of the oldest in the region were also washed away.
These graveyards are the final resting places of the last rulers of Talpure community of Sindh Mir Sher Mohammad Khan Talpure and his forefathers including founder of Mirpurkhas Mir Ali Murad Khan Talpure, Faqeer Mir Massood Khan Talpure, Mir Fateh Khan Talpure, Mir Tharo Khan Talpure and Mir Allahyar Talpure.
Reports have shown that only one security guard has been appointed by the archeology department to take care of the graves and even though there are two empty slots for cleaners to assist the guard, no appointments have been made. Chowkidar Syed Riaz Hussain Shah, who was appointed in 2001, said “Rs 80,000 were approved for the graveyard in 2009 but were never spent on it.”
He said some government officers had visited the region in the past but had not taken any measures to repair the buildings or the shrines. “MNA Mir Munawar Ali Khan Talpure should take notice since these are his ancestors’ graves,” he said, adding that all the government had to do was fill in the empty posts. In 1999, Mir Sarwar Ali Talpure, a young son of MNA Mir Munawar Ali Khan Talpure and President Asif Ali Zardari’s nephew was also buried in the same graveyard.
Khan got a mosque, bathroom, water tank and a road constructed close to the graveyard and also appointed a cleric in the mosque, however, all these structures are also now laying in ruins. People belonging to different walks of life have asked the president and Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani to take immediate notice of the situation.
