Pakistan on Wednesday asked UNESCO for assistance in including two of its major archaeological sites, Rani Ghat in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the Port of Banbhore in Sindh, on the World Heritage List. Federal Minister for National Heritage and Culture Aurangzeb Khan Khichi made the request during his meeting with UNESCO Representative in Pakistan Fuad Pashayev. Both sites are already on Pakistan’s Tentative List, which currently includes 37 properties recognized by the UNESCO World Heritage Center.
Highlights Key
- Pakistan urges UNESCO to accord full World Heritage status to Rani Ghat, Banbhore
- Delegation of World Heritage Committee to visit Banbhore from Sept 6-11
- The government is also pursuing an Intangible Cultural Heritage tag for four traditional foods.
- PM’s Task Force on Gandhara to organize overseas exhibitions, dedicated “Gandhara Corners”
وفاقی وزیر برائے قومی ورثہ و ثقافت اورنگزیب خان کھچی سے یونیسکو کنٹری ہیڈ فوائد پاشایف نے اسلام آباد میں ملاقات کی۔
ملاقات میں پاکستان کے تاریخی و ثقافتی ورثے کے تحفظ اور عالمی سطح پر اجاگر کرنے کے امور پر تبادلہ خیال کیا گیا۔
وفاقی وزیر نے رانی گھاٹ اور بنبھور کو یونیسکو کی… pic.twitter.com/XqKLb5B5gy— PTV News (@PTVNewsOfficial) September 2, 2026
Rani Ghat: A 2,500-Year-Old Window into Gandhara’s Buddhist Past
Rani Ghat is located in Buner district, on a hilltop accessed by a long staircase, initially constructed with Japanese assistance. The site is about 2,500 years old, dating to the Gandhara civilization, and the ruins cover nearly four square kilometers, making it one of the largest Buddhist archaeological sites in the area. Visitors who make the climb to the top will find stupas, remains of monasteries and a large rock that is believed to have been a place of worship for the ancient community that lived there long ago.
Rani Ghat was a center of Buddhist art and learning for centuries. Historians believe it functioned somewhat like a university, attracting scholars from as far away as Japan to study Buddhism in its heyday. That historic link still shapes today’s visitors. The site attracts many Japanese tourists and researchers, drawn by the archaeological remains and the centuries-old academic link between the two regions. But the site is more than that: local folklore tells of a queen who once ruled the area and even paid villagers to keep the air around her hilltop retreat clean. This is how the site got its name, which loosely translates to “the queen of stones.”
Banbhore: The Port City That Might Be Ancient Debal
The city of Banbhore is located in the Thatta district of Sindh, about 64km southeast of Karachi on the banks of the Gharo Creek. Archaeological excavations between 1958 and 1966 uncovered traces of three different periods of history: a Scytho-Parthian period, a Hindu-Buddhist period and an early Islamic period, from about the 1st century BC to the 13th century AD.
Banbhore is important because it may be the lost city of Debal, the legendary port where Arab general Muhammad bin Qasim landed in 712 AD, the first Muslim conquest on the subcontinent. Although this identification has not yet been firmly established, the evidence is persuasive. The site’s Grand Mosque contains a Kufic inscription dating to 727 CE, one of the earliest Islamic inscriptions known in the region; many historians believe it to be the first mosque built in the subcontinent.
Banbhore was the main port city of Sindh for centuries, in addition to its religious significance. It connected Sindh to trade networks that spanned the Islamic world and reached as far as China. Excavated pottery with Chinese characters confirms Banbhore’s place in the wider trading system of the Silk Road. The city was laid out in a sophisticated urban way, with a large reservoir, textile workshops, glass-making facilities and metallurgy operations – proof of a cosmopolitan trading center, not just a coastal outpost. By the 13th century, Banbhore was in decline, as the course of the Indus River shifted and the surrounding creek silted up, cutting the city off from the maritime trade that had sustained it for over a millennium.
What UNESCO designation would mean
Moving from the Tentative List to full World Heritage status is a significant milestone, often associated with increased international visibility, better conservation funding, and greater scholarly and tourist interest. For sites like Rani Ghat and Banbhore, which speak to entirely different chapters of South Asian history — Buddhist scholarship on one hand and early Islamic maritime trade on the other — formal UNESCO recognition would help ensure their preservation while cementing Pakistan’s standing as custodian of a truly layered and globally significant archaeological record.
This is now more urgent given the timing of the request. A delegation of the World Heritage Committee from across the world will visit Banbhore from September 6 to 11 to see the site first-hand as Pakistan’s case for inclusion moves forward.
The Cultural Heritage Drive Goes Beyond Archaeology
Minister Khichi also asked UNESCO for assistance in having four Pakistani culinary traditions recognized under the Intangible Cultural Heritage framework, in addition to the heritage site request. These include Makai Roti and Saag from Punjab, Balochi Sajji, Sindhi Biryani and Chapli Kebab from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, a veritable feast from different provinces of Pakistan, highlighting the different culinary identities of the regions.
Separately, Imran Shaukat, coordinator of the Prime Minister’s Task Force on Gandhara, said plans were afoot to take exhibitions related to Gandhara abroad and set up dedicated “Gandhara Corners” to display Pakistan’s Buddhist heritage. The task force was also looking at setting aside five to 10 acres around selected Gandhara sites where Buddhist institutions could establish research and meditation centers to facilitate longer visits by scholars and pilgrims, Shaukat said. An international Gandhara conference is scheduled to be held in November, and delegations from Bangladesh and Sri Lanka are expected to visit Pakistan in October and November as part of a broader effort to promote Pakistan’s Buddhist heritage sites as venues for academic study and religious tourism.
