Pakistan Heritage - Islamic and Pre-Islamic Roots...

Following on from a discussion in the Political Gupshop where people have been discussing Pakistan pre-Islamic roots. What view do Pakistani’s have of Pakistan’s non-Islamic heritage? Examples of this include the ancient civilisations around the Indus valley, Mohenjodaro, Harrapa, Taxila and Gandhara.

Are these integral parts of our Pakistani heritage which should be promoted as much as our Islamic heritage?

Our national airliner PIA is ceratinly not ashamed of Pakistan’s non-islamic roots and does in fact offer special tours in this regard.
http://www.fly-pia.com/pia_tour.htm

Examples include as follows:-

— A Re-live the past Tour - about Mohenjodro and Harrapa - http://www.fly-pia.com/pia_tour/tour_9a.htm

—A Sikh Pilgrims Tour http://www.fly-pia.com/pia_tour/tour_3a.htm

— A Trip beyond time - taking in the Kaffir Kalash of Chitral. http://www.fly-pia.com/pia_tour/tour_5a.htm

— Buddhist Study Tour http://www.fly-pia.com/pia_tour/tour_6a.htm

Aren’t we really proud of all our Pakistani heritage ?

http://www3.pak.org/gupshup/smilies/smile.gif

Good site Mursalin.

Alternatively you can try
http://www.tourism.gov.pk/punjab.htm

Here are a few examples of Pakistan officially acknowleging it’s pre-islamic history;

Uch Sharif

Uch Sharif, 75 km from Bahawalpur is a very old town. It is believed that it existed 500 BC. Some historians believe that Uch was there even before the advent of Bikramajit when Jains and Buddhist ruled over the sub-continent. At the time of the invasion by Alexander the Great, Uch was under Hindu rule.

Sikh Monuments

Samadhi of Maharaja Ranjeet Sing

The Ashes of the great Sikh ruler of Punjab, Maharaha Ranjeet Singh, and of his four wives and several slave girls lie in a dome adjacent to the Hazoori Bagh.

Lahore Museum

Opposite the old University Hall, a Mughal style building on the Shahrah-e-Quaid-e-Azam, houses the Lahore Museum. the Museum contains some fine specimens of Mughal and Sikh door-ways and wood-work and has a big collection of paintings dating back to Indo-Pakistan, Mughal, Sikh and British times. It has also a collection of musical instruments, ancient jewellery, textile, pottery and armoury. There are also relics from the Graeco-Pactrian times as well as some Tibetan and Nepalese exhibits.

Rawalpindi

Rawalpindi lies on the Grand Trunk Road 177 from Peshawar and 275 kms from north-west from Lahore. The twin city of Rawalpindi/Islamabad lies against the backdrop of Margalla Hills on the Potwar Plateau. On the basis of archaeological discoveries, archaeologists believe that a distinct culture flourished on this plateau as far back as 3000 years. The material remains found on the sight of the city of Rawalpindi prove the existence of Buddhist establishment contemporary to Taxila but less celebrated than its neighbours.

It appears that the ancient city went into oblivion as a result of the Hun devastation. the first Muslim invader, Mahmood of Ghazni (979-1030 AD), gifted the ruined city to a Gakkhar Chief, Kai Gohar. the town, however, being on invaders’ route, could not prosper and remained deserted until Jhanda Khan, another Gakkhar Chief, restored it and gave the name of Rawalpindi after the village Rawal in 1493 AD. Rawalpindi remained under the rule of Gakkhars till Muqarrab Khan, the last Gakkhar ruler, was defeated by Sikhs in 1765 AD.** Sikhs invited traders from other places to settle here. This brought the city into prominence.** Sikhs lost the city to British in 1849 AD. It then became the General Headquarters of British Army and they established a cantonment south of the old city. In 1879, the Punjab Northern Railway was extended to Rawalpindi but the train service was formally inaugurated on January 1, 1886.

Plenty more, but I think there is enough there to convince our Indian Gupshuppers that Pakistanis have some way to go before we can match the RSS for history revisionism

http://www3.pak.org/gupshup/smilies/smile.gif

Thanks Mursalin and extreme! Jeez there is SO MUCH to see in Pakistan. I have to re-adjust my upcoming plans to PAK and go and visit the Mohenjodaro in upper Sindh - its only a 45 minute flight from Karachi!

Extreme - there is some stunning pictures in the sight you posted, though I hear PTDC has got a lot of improvement to do in its presentation material...

P.S. I for one are proud of ALL of Pakistan's heritage - we are so lucky!

[This message has been edited by Malik73 (edited August 01, 2000).]

Wow, I'm impressed by PIA's approach towards promoting those tours.... I must say, I had not expected that at least from PIA.