An Editorial from Dawn, Karachi, dated 24 January 2009

The Indus Valley and its forerunner civilisations continue to cough up treasures of an ancient past. Some of these date as far back as the Stone Age (before 3,300 BC). The latest discovery in Lakhian Jo Daro near Sukkur has unveiled archaeological remains, utensils, faience paintings and mirrors that are believed to predate Moenjodaro, harking back to at least 5,500 years. The uncovering of the site comes after the discovery of similar remains at Mehrgarh which dates back to some 7,000 years. Sited in Balochistan, it was unearthed by French archaeologists in 1974. The treasure trail along the Indus and its tributaries stretches all the way up to Swat. Preliminary findings at Lakhian Jo Daro suggest that the discovery matches at least the remains found at Kot Diji that predates Moenjodaro—the most spectacular of Indus Valley sites excavated by John Marshall and Mortimer Wheeler, among others, in the 1930s. The finds make the Indus Valley civilisation rival those of Egypt and Mesopotamia.

The continuing discoveries of such sites along the Indus reinforce the fact that our part of the world was home to some of the earliest and most socially and structurally developed human civilisations, and is in that sense at least the envy of the world today. While Pakistan can also be proud of the good number of professional archaeologists and human anthropologists it has produced, it must be noted with some dismay that the authorities concerned have not always succeeded in protecting our historical treasures. There is a dire need to reinforce safeguards and put in place additional security mechanisms to ensure that historical sites and artefacts do not become victims of theft by the unscrupulous or of destruction at the hands of the myopic religiosity and militancy raging in Swat, for instance.

http://www.dawn.com/2009/01/24/ed.htm#3

Here is the original report dated 23 January 2009 filed by Moin Ansari

The Pakistani civilization is as old as time itself. 150,000 years ago Pakistanis roamed the Soan river around the Potohar region. 7000 years ago the Mehargarh Pakistanis worked on the first agricultural site in South Asia (religious dogma notwithstanding).

5000 years ago Pakistanis of the Sukkur  ditrict were building brick cities unequaled in the world. 3500 years ago the Moenjodaro and Harrapa Pakistanis were trading with Sumer, and Ur with the Mesopotamians, and with the Egyptian pharos. The Indus Valley and its precedents of course existed only on along the banks of the Indus. The Pakistanis of that time were not vegetarian, buried their dead, ate beef, lived in unstratified housing (no caste system), used a pictographic language in vogue during that era in Phoenicia etc., ate beef, wrote right to left, and did not worship the current Bharati pantheon of Gods.

SUKKUR, Jan 22: An archaeological site, about 5,500 years old, has been found in Lakhian Jo Daro near Goth Nihal Khoso in the district of Sukkur.

The find is said to be of the era of Kot Diji.

A team of 22 archaeologists headed by the chairman of Shah Abdul Latif University’s archaeology department and Lakhian Jo Daro project director Ghulam Mustafa Shar found some semi-precious and precious stones and utensils made of clay, copper and other metals during excavation on Thursday. The remains are said to be older than those of Moenjodaro.

Mr Shar told Dawn that remains of a ‘faience’ mirror factory had been found at the project’s second block. It was believed to be of the era of mirror factories of Italy which dates back to some 9,000 years.

He said a painting had also been found and discovery of more such items could establish the site as 9,000 years old, like the remains found at Mehar Garh in Balochistan and Jericho in Palestine.

“At present, we can say that it is older than Moenjodaro,” he said. Mr Shar said that archaeology professors and students from Punjab University, Peshawar University and Islamabad would join the team in a couple of days.

He said the work on the second block would continue for a month and more items could be found. Sukkur District Nazim Syed Nasir Hussain visited the site on Thursday and asked the project director to prepare proposals for a museum. Dawn. Site older than Moenjodaro found in Sukkur By Waseem Shamsi

The land East of the Indus was jungle roamed by lions and tigers and monkeys. Around 1500 BC part of the Pakistani civilization's Indus Valley sections moved Eastwards to conquest territory in Western Gujarat. They built some minor settlements but abandoned it soon after.

The Ganges Plains were inhabited later, centuries later when the incoming Aryan hordes destroyed the IVC and moved Eastward. The news about new cities being discovered in the Punjab will help us further define the breadth and depth of the Pakistani civilization

http://moinansari.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!13E83389ABB46AB9!1904.entry

http://rupeenews.com/2009/01/23/the-7000-year-old-pakistani-civilization-new-cities-discovered-in-sukkur/

A Comment:

To claim a 7000 year old civilization as 'Pakistani'—term invented less than 100 years back—is a stretch—but the pride in the land could be the excuse. At the very least Pakistani's discovered it—so perhaps it is justified. But why the reflexive need to contrast it with the Indian heritage/history/religion/social mores? Therein lies the inability of Pakistan to flower fully as a self confident nation—which—given fantastic human (the genetic stock is essentially the same) & natural resources is inexplicable otherwise. Defining a nation as just not what another is never the path to greatness—and hopefully not to destruction either. Senthil K

While congratulating the team for the remarkable find I will rather set aside both the comment and the claim. If a new history of the deep past has opened out for us then, it is time for us to dismiss the hasty generalizations of the early Indologists proposing the disastrous Theory of Aryan Invasion. It is that which we should examine in the deeper sense.

~ RYD