The title notwithstanding, in reality it is perhaps better to describe the collaboration as an enduring partnership between the Royal Family of Swat and the Italian Archaeological Mission (IAM) in Pakistan, which, since 2020, is being co-managed by ISMEO (Italian Institute for the Far and Middle East) and Ca’Foscari University of Venice.
The cooperation started in 1955 when the Wali of Swat, Miangul Jahan Zeb, a visionary who was keen to investigate and preserve the history of Swat, invited the IAM under the leadership of Giuseppe Tucci to the valley. Miangul Jahan Zeb treated the famed archaeologist as an honorary citizen of his realm, and welcomed him by providing the archaeologist with a purpose built mission house. This facility not only provided living quarters for the archaeologists, but also provided shelving and storage to accommodate the artifacts. As the work progressed and the collection of artifacts grew, in 1958 the Wali constructed the building of the Swat Museum which became home to exceptionally fine examples of Gandharan Art and artifacts.
Miangul Jahan Zeb was post ceded by his son, Miangul Aurangzeb, the last Crown Prince of Swat. The Prince continued his support to the Italian archeologists with full fervor. His zeal for the discovery, preservation and promotion of the history of Swat was inherited by his sons Miangul Adnan Aurangzeb (and his wife Zenab), Miangul Mahmud and Miangul Hassan. Hence, four successive Wali-leaders of Swat (Mianguls Jahan Zeb, Aurangzeb, Adnan, Mahmud & Hassan) have committed themselves to the work of discovery and preservation of Swat.
On the Italian side, the commitment has also been equally generational. It commenced with Giuseppe Tucci who was succeeded in sequence by Domenico Faccenna, Maurizio Taddei, and Piefrancesco Callieri. In 1987, the baton was passed to the current Director, Dr. Luca Olivieri, who has been working in Swat for almost 40 years – that is some commitment to the cause of archaeology and Swat! Dr. Luca will be retiring soon and will be followed by Dr. Elisa Iori, who has been working in Swat since 2020. Luca might be officially retiring, but I suspect that his engagement with Swat and Pakistan will be everlasting and perhaps even more technically intense since, as he confided “I will not have to worry about administration, fund raising and management, but will only focus on archaeology”.
Luca truly is a man appreciated in Swat and the archaeological circles of Pakistan and the world for his commitment to the history of Swat and the communities around the sites. He starts his digs at the crack of dawn every day and has been jokingly “blamed” for “making archaeologists out of the locals” for his extensive capacity building and employment of the locals at his archaeological sites. This model follows his concept of creating “Field Schools”, which are currently at 7 archaeological sites: the historic sites of Barikot (City of Alexander), the Buddhist complex of Saidu Sharif, Gogdara Graveyards, Udegram Mosque, the stupa of Amlukdara, etc.
On October 25th, a ceremony was held in Swat to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the partnership. It was a learning experience for me on the amazing work undertaken since 1955. The mission has excavated countless iconic sites including several protohistoric settlements (Aligrama, Kalako-Deray, Loebanr), graveyards (Katelai, Butkara II, Aligrama), Buddhist complexes (Butkara I, Panr, Saidu Sharif), historical cities (Udegram, Barikot) and the Mosque of Udegram, the third most ancient mosque of South Asia. In addition to extensive excavation work, the Italian mission has documented their efforts meticulously. They have composed in excess of 1000 publications, with Luca alone having 150 articles and 12 books to his credit.
The only break in the continuous work of the mission took place between 2007 and 2010 when the work had to be shut down for security reasons due to the Taliban insurgency in Swat. The insurgents damaged many sites and when the mission commenced, a 5-year long Italian-Pakistan ACT project (Archaeology, Community, Tourism project) was launched. The project began with the reconstruction and rehabilitation of the Swat Museum which had been partly destroyed during the rule of the insurgents. The mission also restored the damaged face of the Jahanabad Buddha (circa 600-700 AD), which at 6 meters tall, is claimed to the largest carved Buddha in Central Asia (after the Buddhas in Bamiyan in Afghanistan which were destroyed).
This year, a new three-year project ‘Khyber PATH (Professions for Climate Adaptation, ecotourism and Heritage) has been launched. This project aims to strengthen sustainable and responsible tourism and improve the accessibility and visibility of 8 archaeological sites stretching from Taxila to Barikot that will be partially connected through an integrated route. This project is being implemented in partnership with DG Archaeology (KP), Dr. Abdul Samad, who is also an accomplished archaeologist and author of many works on archaeology. The work under his leadership has been monumental and widely recognized, including the KITE project, which was one of two successful projects recognized at the World Bank’s annual general meeting in Washington, DC, earlier this month.
One hears a lot about aid agencies wasting money in Pakistan with Pakistan getting no substantial advantage from donor investments. Swat has proven this wrong, and the Mianguls of Swat and the Italian Archaeological Mission under Dr. Luca are a testament to the success of an enduring Italian-Pakistani partnership. They have demonstrated that to do things right, all that is needed is commitment and sincerity of purpose.
—The writer is a former Senior Advisor to the Government and a sector development specialist. He is a member of the APP Think Tank and Pakistan’s Buddhist Heritage Promotion Ambassador for GTPL, a company under SIFC.
