Those who respect and recognise their past only can dream of a brighter future. The land of Jammu and Kashmir including Ladakh is filled with historical monuments. This is the heritage that everyone here should be proud of as heritage and monuments are not just objects of the past, these are actually the engines of continuity of human civilisation and that is why the developed countries focus on preserving such monuments. In the year 2008 Srinagar and Leh (old) towns were included on the New York-based World Monuments Fund (WMF) watch-list of the 100 most endangered sites across the globe. WMF is the foremost private and non-profit organization dedicated to the preservation of endangered architectural and cultural sites around the World.
That a foreign organization showed interest in preserving cultural heritage of Srinagar and Leh obviously should have come as a clarion call for all the people here that owing to their lack of concern about their heritage, someone from outside had to step in to wake us up from slumber. The heritage in Jammu and Kashmir and particularly in Kashmir Valley has all along got very little or no attention by any quarter. The indifference towards this sector is not confined to the governments, that be, but to the general public too. While government’s lack of interest saw wanton loot and destruction of heritage sites, people too are no less ruthless and in certain cases have been instrumental in destroying these glories of the past.
Like governments, that be, local populace, more or less, has always remained indifferent towards this aspect. While all over the world people feel proud of their cultural heritage and get inspirations for coming ages, in Kashmir these sites have always been treated as alien – as if the people have no emotional or cultural connection. People who don’t respect their history, their culture and their heritage are bound to lose connection with the roots and once this connection is broken, peoples’ identity is lost. That is what has happened here.
Sometime back, the Tourism department claimed it was going for the cultural mapping of Srinagar city and so as to use the WMF initiative in preserving the cultural ethos of this old city, history of which dates back to 2000 years. But then as happens with so many initiatives here, people have not heard much about the initiative since. Some old buildings were no doubt given a facelift and declared as heritage sites with small signboards clamped on them publicly announcing such status, but that is all that has been done. The government of the day launch massive revival and restoration works of all heritage sites in Jammu and Kashmir and every effort should be made to conserve this historical treasure trove in a highly professional manner in order to present the same to heritage lovers.
