Srinagar, June 18: Minister for Tourism and Culture, Nawang Rigzin Jora on Friday said the government will initiate process to bring back Kashmiri artifacts shifted from Valley to other cities across India during the past two decades.
 “We will soon initiate this process and I am hopeful that we will have the artifacts back especially those excavated from Burzuhama,” the minister said on the sidelines of a website launching function of Sri Pratap Singh Museum at Lal Mandi.
 “The artifacts belong to Kashmir and they should be here. We will try our best to bring these back to Kashmir.”
 For the past many years there has been a growing demand from various quarters that the artifacts be brought back to Kashmir. Besides, observers seek shifting of the offices of the Archaeological Survey of India permanently to Srinagar so that heritage sites and monuments in Kashmir and Ladakh “don’t get neglected”.
 The speakers during the website launch function raised similar demands.
 Prominent historian, Prof Fida Hasnain said a large number of artifacts of great cultural and historical significance were shifted from Kashmir in the past twenty years.
 “Even when the excavation was done at Burzuhama, a site museum was said to be established there. But the museum was never set there and in fact the artifacts were shifted to Chandigarh and Calcutta,” he said.
 “Similarly, archaeological objects excavated from other sites are lying in many cities of India. These need to be bought to Kashmir as these are part of our culture and heritage.”
 He said there were a number of heritage buildings present in the Valley, mainly in Srinagar adding the government needs to acquire these buildings for conservation.
 He sought government assistance to private museums, which were being run by people in the Valley.

Lastupdate on : Fri, 18 Jun 2010 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Fri, 18 Jun 2010 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Sat, 19 Jun 2010 00:00:00 IST