KARACHI (AwesomePakistan.Net): The culture department started preservation work of the Umerkot Fort with the hope to restore it to its original splendor. Around 200 workers, with the help of local artisans and experts, have started work on the front of the fort.

According to officials, the front of the heritage site where Mughal emperor Akbar was born will be finished by June, 2017. “We are doing all the development work as per the guidelines of UNESCO [United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation],” said Roshan Ali Kanasro, director of planning and development at the culture department. He added that work was being carried out under the ‘protection, preservation and promotion of protected archeological

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BAHAWALPUR (AwesomePakistan.Net): The donation of precious royal locks of the Abbasid Dynasty by Bahawalpur Waste Management Company to the museum would enrich the splendid archaeological heritage of Pakistan.  This was said by Islamia University’s Department of History Chairperson Professor Dr Shahid Hassan Rizvi on Monday. He said the historic locks were used for locking Derawer Fort and other historic palaces of former Bahawalpur state.

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MULTAN (AwesomePakistan.Net): Hazrat Bahauddin Zakariya’s shrine in Multan is considered one of the oldest structures that is still standing despite the passage of many centuries. The restoration work on the mausoleum had been carried out from time to time but the structure still requires more renovation. The full name of Bahauddin Zakariya was Sheikh Kabir Sheikhul Salam Bahauddin Zakariya Al-Asadi-Al Hashmi. He was born at Kot Kehror, a village of Layyah District near Multanin 1170 Hijri. After his father’s death, he went to Khorasan and learned about Islam for over seven years. He then went to Bukhara, a centre point of Islamic learning at that time to complete his learning. This was the place where he was nicknamed ‘Bahauddin Farishta’ (angel) for his pleasant nature and obedience.

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MUZAFFARABAD (AwesomePakistan.Net): With winter snowfall blanketing the mountains surrounding Muzaffarabad in a dense layer of white, hundreds of tourists rushed to viewpoints on Pir Chinasi and Sarran on Sunday. The Sarran hill station is located just 27 kilometres east of Muzaffarabad – the capital of Azad Jammu and Kashmir.

Located at a height of 7,500 feet above the sea level, it affords a breathtaking view of Muzaffarabad city and its surrounding valley at the base of the Himalayas.

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For quite some time now, Gilgit-Baltistan’s scenic Diamer Valley has been in the spotlight, but for all the wrong reasons. It all began in 2011-12, when passenger buses travelling on the Karakoram Highway were attacked and their passengers butchered on sectarian grounds. A year later, armed men wearing army uniforms, stormed a base camp in Nanga Parbat, killing 10 foreign mountaineers. It doesn’t end there. The security officials investigating the high-profile murders of the mountaineers also fell prey to terrorists in the days that followed the attack.

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SWAT (AwesomePakistan.Net): Residents of upper Swat are facing intense problems after roads were blocked following heavy snowfall in the region. Residents hailing from Kalam Valley, Mankiyal, Utrore, Gabral and Peshmal areas of Bahrain tehsil in Swat district said roads linking the areas to Grand Trunk (GT) Road were blocked after intermittent snowfall in the valley.

A local journalist, Hayat Muhammad Kalami, told The Express Tribune that though machinery was installed to remove snow from the main roads, the link roads were still covered and nothing had been done to clear them.

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The National Institute of Folk and Traditional Heritage popularly known as Lok Virsa and the Pakistan Museum of Natural History (PMNH) have agreed to collaborate for promotion of culture and heritage of Pakistan. The Lok Virsa and the PMNH signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for joint collaboration in related fields here at Shakarparian, said a press release on Tuesday.

The signing ceremony was held at the Lok Virsa Heritage Museum.

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SUKKUR (AwesomePakistan.Net): Sindh culture minister Sardar Ali Shah has vowed to preserve all historical sites in Sindh and restore the Kotdiji fort. Talking to media persons after visiting Masoom Shah Minara in Sukkur on Monday, Shah said the archeology department was under the federal government till 2012, but it did nothing to preserve the historical sites in Sindh.

Report sought on heritage protection

On the contrary, many artifacts were shifted to Punjab, he remarked. Some of the cannons at the Kotdiji Fort were taken to Punjab, which will be returned back

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DERA GHAZI KHAN (AwesomePakistan.net): Fort Munro was blanketed in white as the area received its first snowfall of the season. The hill resort, which is in the mountainous Sulaiman Range and Anari Hills, saw snowfall at intermittent intervals. Areas were covered in over a foot of snow. The resort was built at an altitude of 6,470 feet during British rule and was named after an English civil servant, Munro.

A large number of people from Dera Ghazi Khan, Muzaffargarh, Rajan Pur, Multan, Bahawalpur and adjacent areas thronged Fort Munro to enjoy the snowfall.

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ABBOTTABAD (AwesomePakistan.net): After a week of respite, rain and snowfall again lashed different parts of Hazara division for the second day on Monday, bring back a flash of cold in the entire region. Slight rain started in the plains of Hazara on Sunday afternoon, while snowfall began at around sunset in Galiyat Valley, Kaghan Valley, hilly parts of Kohistan, Battagram, and Torghar districts.

Tourist haunts such as Galiyat and Kaghan have been completely blanketed by snow, disrupting the already broken traffic system.

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