Dhaka: Archeologists at a discussion Thursday said land-grabbers are engaged in damaging sites retaining significant historic and cultural value throughout Bangladesh.

“Since local land-grabbers cannot easily occupy land on which historical structures like temples or houses are located, they try to do it by removing the structures altogether,” said Dr AKM Shahnewaz of Jahangirnagar University (JU).

The discussion titled ‘Challenges and the Way Forward to Protecting Archeological Sites’ at the head office of the Archeology Department of JU was jointly organised by the department and Poribesh Bachao Andolan (POBA), a group of conservationists.

Delivering the keynote, Dr Shahnewaz, one of the country’s most renowned archaeology professors, relayed how even public representatives damaged many archeological sites and signs, on account of sheer ignorance with regards to their historic significance and value in terms of heritage.

To illustrate his point, Dr Shahnewaz cited the example of a local Member of Parliament from Bagerhat, who ended up covering a brick-built ghat dating from the Sultani era at Thakur Dighi near the famous shrine of Khanjahan Ali with tiles.

In another example, he said the Bokt Binte Masjid at Narinda in Dhaka, popularly known as the Binte Bibir Masjid, was almost about to be torn down a few years ago, to make way for a new, multi-storey mosque. Only a late intervention prevented the last surviving monument of the Sultani era in Dhaka from being lost forever.

But Dr Shahnewaz regretted the failure to protect the Chauhatta Mosque in Sylhet.

Chaired by the director general of the Archeology Department Md Altaf Hossain, the discussion was addressed, among others, by pro-vice chancellor of Pabna Science and Technology University Prof Anwarul Islam Shamim, former president of the Institute of Architects Bangladesh (IAB) Prof Shamsul Wares, Poba chairman Abu Naser Khan, IAB president Abu Sayeed Khan and JU archeology professor Sufi Mustafizur Rahman.