Separated Sindh Culture, Antiquities departments: powers, jurisdictions yet to be delineated

The dispute between Sindh Culture and Antiquities departments over powers and functions still exists, as the meeting of the ministerial committee, which was mandated to decide the issue, is yet to be held despite the passage of five months, it was learnt on Wednesday.
The dispute surfaced after the Sindh government separated the antiquities department, which was a part of the provincial culture department, on December 31, 2010. Earlier, the government had also separated Tourism from Culture department.
After the establishment of separate department for antiquities, Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah had constituted a ministerial committee with a mandate to decide powers and jurisdictions of both the departments. Ministers Makhdoom Jamil-uz-Zaman and Sassui Palijo, Hameed Haroon, Yasmeen Lari and others were among the committee members, sources said.
But, despite the passage of about five months, the said committee could not meet even once, resulting in continuation of the row between the respective departments. Sources said that the dispute had badly affected the functioning of both the departments, as many files regarding important issues were pending with respective sections of the departments.
Although, there were two ministers and secretaries for both the departments, rest of the staff had not been distributed between the departments, which had made the situation worse, sources told. It is interesting to mention here that although the Culture and Antiquities have been separated, the Sindh government has not allocated separate funds for both in Annual Development Programme (ADP) 2011-12. An official of Antiquates department told Business Recorder on the condition of anonymity that if separate funds were not allocated for Antiquities and Culture departments, more disputes would arise between the respective authorities.