Ghazni, a historic city of our country has been named as the capital of culture and civilization for the Muslim world for the year 2013. Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization named the city for its rich heritage of Islamic sites. Every year, Morocco based organization names three cities of Islamic countries in order to promote the visit of tourists and bring into light the need to preserve the cultural and historic buildings of the cities.
The announcement was made in a ceremony held in the city on Saturday in which high government officials were present. The representatives of different international organizations were also present on the occasion. The organization said that their responsibilities would not end simply by naming the city rather they would extend efforts to work for the preservation of the archaeological sites of the city.
Talking on the occasion, Minister of information and culture, Makhdoom Amin Raheen said that the ministry has a number of long and short run projects to preserve the historic sites of the city.
It is worth mentioning here that Ghazni is one of the cities of the Islamic world which contains a large number of Islamic sites but at present, both the city and the archaeological sites are in poor condition. Most of the historic sites are in continuous process of depreciation and are in bad need of renovation and restoration. For this purpose, it is necessary that large number of tourists should come and visit these sites so that the continuous process of renovation should be undertaken on sustainable basis. Usually, the historic or archaeological sites are kept in good shape by the income generated by the visit of tourists.
On the other hand, security conditions in the city are frightening and it is out of question that any tourist should come to visit these sites. The national highway that connects Ghazni to capital Kabul and major city of Kandahar is under continuous attacks by Taliban and it is very dangerous to travel on this road. Similarly, there is not present any kind of security arrangement on the sites and the visit of tourists is usually discouraged.
With the above distinction, it is a good chance for the renovation of the sites and also to introduce to world the good picture of the city and the country. Government authorities should also work for the promotion of security conditions of the city and the province. The true aim of the above distinction would only be met after the given conditions were met.