Govt asked to undo ‘reconstruction’ at Taxila sites

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ISLAMABAD: The UN’s cultural arm, Unesco, has asked the government to reverse the “reconstructions” that undermined the integrity of two historical sites in Taxila, warning that a failure to take such action would result in their being placed on the agency’s ‘danger list’.

Sources in the Ministry of National Heritage and Culture told Dawn that, in a recent meeting on the issue, Unesco told senior government officials that it had “delisted” a World Heritage Site in Germany and would not hesitate to “delist” Taxila over the recent “unnecessary interventions” that compromised the integrity and authenticity of these places. It said the UN agency would “delist” Taxila from its World Heritage List if the actions were not reversed.