LARKANA: A three-day international conference titled ‘Indus Scr­ipt Moenjodaro 2020’ begins at the site of the ancient civilisation on Thursday.

The conference has been organised by the department of culture, tourism and antiquities and National Fund for Moenjodaro.

Researchers from 12 countries, including the United States, the Uni­ted Kingdom, Germany, Denmark, France and Italy will present their papers.

Sources in the department told Dawn on Tuesday that it would be the maiden assembly of eminent experts and researchers from aro­und the world who had been actively engaged in deciphering the Indus script. They will share their findings and make recommendations.

The delegates would discuss the research carried out so far in deciphering the script found on the artefacts and seals discovered from under the ruins of Moenjodaro.

Researchers from US, UK and 10 other countries to take part in the moot

In 2017, the department had organised a conference at the archa­eo­logical site in collaboration with the National Fund for Moen­jodaro.

During its deliberations, experts and scholars of archaeology had presented their papers covering the Indus Civilization and Moenjo­daro, the sources recalled.

Quoting Sindh Minister for Culture and Tourism Syed Sardar Shah, they said that if the experts had succeeded in deciphering the Indus script, this would be a major breakthrough of the century.

The kind of conference being held from Jan 9 to 11 should have been held much earlier but the department of archaeology had since 1947 to 2010 been a federal subject and unfortunately the Centre could not pay attention to convening of such a moot.

NFM chairman Dr Kaleem Las­hari would serve as the facilitator of the conference where Minister Syed Sardar Shah and culture secretary Akbar Leghari would also be present, the sources said.

The participation in the workshop, to be held on the first two days, would be exclusive for presenters and observers. The workshop is to be held in the archaeological museum of Moenjodaro.

The concluding session on Jan 11 would be open to all, the sources said, adding that a musical show would also be part of the event and take place in Sambara Inn on the night of Jan 10.

Published in Dawn, January 8th, 2020