Malas noticias nos llegan desde Pakistán. Como suele pasar en numerosos países en vías de desarrollo, donde la política se impone sobre cualquier criterio. Las autoridades locales decidieron llevar acabo un festival cultural en las misma ruinas de Mohenjo-Daro, algo que fue denunciado y rechazado por personalidades ligadas al ámbito cultural tanto en el mismo Pakistán como de todo el mundo. A pesar de las protestas, el evento se llevó a cabo, tal como lo relata el diario paquistaní Dawn, lo que habría puesto aun más en peligro al sitio arqueológico. Ya en 2012, la BBC publicó un artículo en el que explicaba la ya muy crítica situación del monumento.
BBC News, 26 de junio de 2012: Mohenjo Daro: Could this ancient city be lost forever?
Pakistani officials say they are doing their best to save one of the most important archaeological sites in south Asia, Mohenjo Daro. But some experts fear the Bronze Age site could be lost unless radical steps are taken.
It is awe-inspiring to walk through a home built 4,500 years ago. Especially one still very much recognisable as a house today, with front and back entrances, interconnecting rooms, neat fired brick walls – even a basic toilet and sewage outlet. Astonishingly, given its age, the home in question was also built on two storeys. But it is even more impressive to walk outside into a real Bronze Age street, and see all of the other homes lining it. And to walk the length of it, seeing the precise lanes running off it before reaching a grand, ancient marketplace.
This is the marvel of Mohenjo Daro, one of the earliest cities in the world. In its day, about 2600 BC, its complex planning, incredible architecture, and complex water and sewage systems made it one of the most advanced urban settings anywhere. It was a city thought to have housed up to 35,000 inhabitants of the great Indus civilisation. While I was overwhelmed by the scale and wonderment of it all, my eminent guide to the site was almost in tears of despair. «Every time I come here, I feel worse than the previous time,» says Dr Asma Ibrahim, one of Pakistan’s most accomplished archaeologists. «I haven’t been back for two or three years,» she says. «The losses since then are so immense and it breaks my heart.» Dr Ibrahim starts to point out signs of major decay… (seguir leyendo).