Daily Times

Former Director Taxila Institute of Asian Civilizations, Quaid-i-Azam University Prof. Dr. Muhammad Ashraf Khan received the award of Officer of “Arts et Lettres” while former Director General Department of Archaeology and Museums Dr. Fazal Dad Kakar also received the award of Knight of “Arts et Lettres”.

The Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (Order of Arts and Letters) is an Order of France, established in May 1957 by the Minister of Culture. Its purpose is the recognition of significant contributions to the arts, literature, or the propagation of these fields.

Both of the recipients have graduated from the prestigious French University of La Sorbonne in Paris where they got a PhD. Both of them are fluent in French language and experts in French culture.

In his presentation, Ambassador of France Dr. Marc Baréty thanked Federal Minister for Education, Professional Training & Heritage Shafqat Mahmood for his presence. He also thanked Chairman HEC Dr. Tariq Banuri, and Vice Chancellor Quaid-i-Azam University Dr. Muhamad Ali Shah for their support. He recalled the brilliant careers of Dr Ashraf as Director of Taxila Institute of Asian Civilizations, and Dr Kakar as former Director General Department of Archaeology and Museums.

The ambassador reiterated the importance of the French cooperation in the field of archaeology, in particular with the discovery or Mehrgarh site by Jean-François Jarrige in 1974 followed by the continuation of that research.

He signalled the 60th anniversary of the Archaeological Mission of Indus Valley that will take place on 28th February on the site of Mohenjo Daro and thanked the authorities of the Sindh Province for their continuous support.

The Ambassador reminded the audience of the importance of the Gandhara civilisation and the extraordinary heritage at all the Buddhist temples. He also congratulated the Government of Pakistan for its initiative to organise a full mapping of the country’s colonial as well as religious heritage.

Finally, he reiterated his thanks to Dr Ashraf and Dr Kakar for their continuous research and the support to the training of a young generation of Pakistani archaeologists who will study in France and work in Pakistan with the support of the world renowned museum “Musée Guimet” of Paris which has the most comprehensible collection of Gandhara Art.

Published in Daily Times, February 8^th 2019.