The Pakistani exhibit claimed this was a fort in Lahore’s Shalamar Gardens

BEIJING: History and politics meshed together at an event organised by the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation to welcome two new members, India and Pakistan. Both India and Pakistan claimed the legacy of Shah Jahan in exhibits put up at the event. Another SCO member, Kazakhstan, claimed legacy of Timur (Tamerlane), regarded as an ancestor of the Mughals.

Senior officials from all eight SCO countries, including China, Russia and four Central Asian states, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, attended the event.

Presenting a picture of Delhi’s Red Fort with the Indian flag fluttering above it, the Pakistani side claimed it was a fort in Shalamar Gardens in Lahore. “These are masterpieces from the time of the brilliant Mughal civilisation, which reached its height during the reign of Emperor Shah Jahan,” it went on to say.

The exhibit mentioned elegant marble palaces and ornamental ponds within the fort. The mention of Mughals at the SCO event is interesting because of Babar, the first Mughal ruler, came from Central Asia , which is strongly represented in the Eurasian club of nations.

The Indian exhibit displayed the Taj Mahal and the Red Fort of Agra while saying, “An immense mausoleum of white marble, built in Agra between 1631 and 1648 by order of Mughal emperor Shah Jahan in memory of his favourite wife, the Taj Mahal, is the jewel of Muslim art in India, and one of the universally admired masterpieces of the world’s heritage.”

Kazakhstan put up an exhibit of a mausoleum saying, “The Mausoleum of Khoja Ahmed Yasawi, in the town of Yasi, now Turkestan, was built at the time of Timur (Tamerlane) from 1389 to 1405.

“In the partly unfinished building, Persian master builders experimented with architectural and structural solutions later used in the construction of Samarkand, the capital of Timurid Empire.” Pakistan also exhibited a picture on the ruins of Moenjodaro.

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In Video: Pakistan boasts about its history, but with a photo of Red Fort