Karachi: Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah has laid the foundation for the restoration of a historical fort in Sehwan city of the province. The fort dates back to the era of Alexander the Great.
Sehwan Fort is 1.27km long and 15 metres high as it was conquered by Alexander the Great in 326 BC. Later on, the fort was conquered by Mohammed Ibn Qasim, and Mahmud of Ghazni. The fort also remained under the possession of the Mughal emperors. The Kalhora rulers of Sindh, later on, took control. The fort became derelict when the Kalhora Dynasty moved its capital to nearby Hyderabad.
The Endowment Fund Trust (EFT) for Preservation of the Heritage of Sindh has been tasked with the repair and maintenance of the Sehwan Fort.
Speaking at the launch of the conservation work, Sindh CM appreciated the EFT had been seeking no special financial assistance from the provincial government to restore the fort within a year.
He said the EFT apart from the initial financial support of Rs1 billion from the provincial government for conserving 40 historical sites of the province, hadn’t sought any additional government funding to carry out its conservation activities.
Alexander festival
He mentioned that cities around the world, which had been conquered by Alexander the Great, commemorated the Alexander festival every year.
Similarly, he announced that Sehwan city would host an international conference on Alexander the Great by the beginning of next year.
He said the restoration of the fort would go a long way to promote tourism in Sehwan as the city attracted hundreds of thousands of visitors every year due to the shrine of Lal Shahbaz Qalandar.
The CM said Sindh had served as the gateway of Islam for the rest of the region as it had a very rich heritage, culture, and history that should be explored by researchers and visitors from all over the world.
He said that Sindh by virtue of its coastal belt, rich energy resources including coal reserves, strong heritage, and history had the potential to lead the process of development and progress of the rest of Pakistan.
He also announced the establishment of a Trans-Indus Research Institute under the aegis of EFT for doing scientific research on the vast history of Sindh.
