7 cases reporting 401 missing items registered since 1996

Theft of artefacts from museums all over Pakistan has been a problem for a very long time. Seven cases reporting 401 missing objects have been registered since 1996. Of those, only 44 have been recovered so far. The remaining pieces are still being found. Tibbi Police is still looking for ornaments of Ranjit Singh’s horse, which are missing since 1996 from the Armoury Gallery at Lahore Fort Museum (pictured left) whihc is now displayed without the fabulous trappings that were stolen over ten years ago.

Furthermore, 39 valuable tones were stolen in 1965 from the Archaeological Museum in Taxila, along with 71 items from the Gandhara civilization in 1971. Out of these, only 11 stones have been recovered. Forty gold and bronze coins, and 12 bronze statues were stolen from the National Museum of Pakistan in Karachi in 1986, which have not been found. The Archaeological Museum in Mohenjodaro reported 38 Indus seals and two tablets missing in 2002.

Since 2004, 2,080 smuggled artifacts have been seized, of which 38 of the Gandhara items were found in New Jersey, US in 2004. About 1400 pieces, which consisted of Gandhara, Indus, pre-Indus and Islamic art, were seized at the Karachi port in 2005. Other recoveries include six artefacts from Lahore in 2006, now in the possession of the Customs; 619 artefacts from Karachi airport also in 2006, currently held by the Culture Department, and 17 items from France, which are still held by the Frech government.