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Preserve, don't distort

10 April 2006, 18:00 PM
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
By Sayed Hasan Pallabi, Mirpur, Dhaka
10 April 2006, 18:00 PM
The article on Shat Gambuj Mosque published in The Daily Star on 5 April 2006 has drawn my attention. The article quoted one archaeologist saying he has been living in the city for the last 65 years and since have always seen the mosque in white. The same article quoted another archaeologist saying during the Pakistani rule, the government in West Pakistan paid no attention to this part of the country. The then authorities continued to paint the walls (of the mosque) red year after year. The 24 years of Pakistani rule on Bangladesh falls within the 65 years mentioned by the archaeologist quoted first. When one archaeologist says the Pakistani authorities continued to paint the mosque red year after year, and another says for the last 65 years he has always seen the mosque in white. Which statement shall we take as true?

The Archaeological Department has not only changed the colour of the Shat Gambuj Mosque, it has recklessly changed the colour of a few other Mughal mosques, Rabindra Kuthibari (the Tagore Lodge) at Shahjadpur, Tajhat Palace in Dinajpur etc. Besides the article published in The Daily Star, a few articles have already appeared in some national dailies, finger pointing the mistake of changing the original colour of our historical monuments. Instead of humbly redressing the mistake, the Department has been trying to argue that what they have done is correct.

The Archaeological Department is there to preserve our historical monuments, not to distort them. We hope that the cultural ministry, the mother organisation, will come forward and make the Archaeological Department correct its mistakes.

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