u/AwarenessNo4986

The Kirthar Range, forms the natural boundary between the Pakistani provinces of Sindh and Balochistan. From the coast of the Arabian sea at Cape Monze, the range extends ~200 miles northwards to the debouch of the Mula river. Altitude ranges from sea level to 7,438 feet at its highest point at Zardak peak.

Two distinct habitat types are predominant: i). Monsoon-influenced arid subtropical forest (humid summers/mild but dry winters; Euphorbia caducifolia, Nannorrhops ritchieana, Senegalia senegal, Ziziphus nummularia etc.), and ii). Tropical thorn forest (Capparis decidua, Prosopis cineraria, Salvadora persica, Suaeda fruticosa etc.), additionally the Indus river skirts the east of the range, and although now predominantly under cultivation, it would've been surrounded by a 4-12 miles wide Tamarix dioica & Tripidium bengalense riverine forest.

3 PAs exist on the range i.e. Kirthar National Park, Mahal Kohistan Wildlife Sanctuary, and Sumbak-Surjan Game Reserve. Additionally the Hab Dam Wildlife Sanctuary borders the national park to the south.

1. Indian wolf (Canis lupus pallipes) The most abundant surviving large carnivore in the area although that isn't saying much. Extended into the adjoining Hub river valley and even into suburban Karachi up to the 1970s. Frequently a victim of retaliatory killings by farmers and herders;

2. Balochistan black bear (Ursus thibetanus gedrosianus) The smallest subspecies of the Asiatic black bear, with its shorter coarser fur often reddish-brown in colour. Commonly associated with Nannorrhops ritchieana. Most likely extinct within the range itself, although one was recently (November, 2025) killed in the nearby Pab range.

3. Striped hyena (Hyaena hyaena) Possibly still extant, although not definitively recorded recently.

4. Asiatic lion (Panthera leo leo/persica) Recorded from Manchchar Lake in the 1810s.

5. Persian leopard (Panthera pardus tulliana) Kirthar is the type locality of junior synonym P. p. sindica the coat of which was described as "fulvous-buff type, richer than in the typical Persian panthers but very decidedly paler than in the average Indian form". A small, ever decreasing population most likely still persists, one juvenile was killed as recently as Januaray, 2024.

6. Bengal tiger (Panthera tigris tigris) Not known from Kirthar itself, its recent range along the Indus not extending south of Sukkur, it is likely to be found in the region as the rulers (Jams) of Las Bela immediately to the west were reported to hunt both lions and tigers in their territory.

7. Asiatic cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus venaticus) Described in the 1880s as "[leopard and cheetah] affect the hills approaching the Indus, where both prey on the gazelle... [it] seldom emerges from its hilly retreat". Allegedly sighted in the surrounding lowlands as late as the 1960s.

8. Khur/Indian wild ass (Equus hemionus khur) Extinct. Kirthar (and trans-Indus) population have been suggested to form an intergrade between E. h. onager and E. h. khur. Chenopodium and Euphorbia species that form a part of the diet of this species are common throughout valleys in Kirthar,

9. Wild pig (Sus scrofa davidi) Common

10. Hog deer (Axis porcinus) Small, isolated populations survive in reserved forests along the length of the Indus. Likely also existed along the shores of the shores of the Manchhar lake within the last 200 years.

11. Barasingha (Rucervus duvaucelii duvaucelii) Although not reported from lower Sindh, having been extirpated from its haunts around Sukkur and Rohri in the 1890s/1900s, it likely ranged further south when favourable habitat still existed, similar to the tiger.

12. Blackbuck (Antilope cervicapra) Introduced in the 1980s. Managed as a semi-wild population.

13. Chinkara (Gazella bennettii fuscifrons) Classed as vulnerable within Kirthar National Park. As of 1997 "still widespread in Lasbela, and a few survive in the ravines at the base of the Kirthar range in Sindh and around Dadu district in the Lakhi Hills".

14. Sindh ibex (Capra aegagrus) Sindh ibex were originally described as a subspecies of wild goat - C. a. blythi although distinction from the nominate form has recently been questioned. Fairly common, herds of up to 80 individuals are still seen. 1,200 sighted in 2013 in Kirthar National Park, 3,100 in total estimated for Sindh in the late 1980s.

15. Gud/Sindh urial (Ovis vignei cycloceros) Common. Found throughout Kirthar, Sindh Kohistan, and the Pab range. Up to 1,350 estimated in the late 1980s.

16. Mugger (Crocodylus palustris) Previously found in the both the Indus and the Hab rivers, as well as in Manchhar lake, it presently restricted to a small remnant population in the Hab Dam Wildlife Sanctuary.

17. Gharial (Gavialis gangeticus) Extinct in the Indus since the 1980s.

A few days ago in Tehsil Bazaar inside the Walled City of #Lahore,
I came across the
S.S. Jain Hall, also known as #Jain Manzil, an
extraordinary surviving fragment of the city’s past

The inscriptions tell us exactly when it was
built. The foundation stone was laid by Shrimati
Sukh Devi Jain, wife of Lala Rala Ram Jain,
on 10 October 1940. The completed hall, built by the S.S. Jain Sabha Lahore,
was formally opened by Rala Ram Jain, a retired Senior Sub-Judge, on 8 February
1942.

This was not simply a religious building. It
served as a meeting and community space for Lahore’s Jains, and was also
associated with religious gatherings and marriages. Jain Manzil remained an
important meeting place for the community until Partition in 1947.

The building still announces its history.
Its original plaques survive in English, Urdu and Devanagari. Jainsymbol of
auspiciousness in the faith, remain embedded in the concrete jalis. The old
wooden windows, balconies and geometric screens are also remarkably intact.

And then there is
the brutal interruption of history. Barely
five years after the hall opened, Partition emptied Lahore of most of its Jain
population. The building subsequently passed into other uses and parts of it
became residential. What had been a living community institution became another
forgotten remnant of the old city.

In 2023, the Walled City of Lahore Authority
formally declared Jain Hall a protected #heritage property, which
makes the conservation work now visible around the building particularly
welcome.

For me, the most moving part remains those
three scripts on the walls. We often describe
pre-Partition Lahore as plural and
cosmopolitan. Here that history requires no romantic reconstruction. It is
still written on the walls.

Lahore belonged to many communities, and all
of them belong to Lahore’s history.

 

Available at: https://www.instagram.com/p/DcIlMggjPik/

 

A few days ago in Tehsil Bazaar inside the Walled City of #Lahore, I came across
the S.S. Jain Hall, also known as #Jain Manzil, an extraordinary surviving fragment of the city’s past

The inscriptions tell us exactly when it was built. The foundation stone was laid by Shrimati
Sukh Devi Jain, wife of Lala Rala Ram Jain, on 10 October 1940. The completed hall, built by the S.S. Jain Sabha Lahore, was formally opened by Rala Ram Jain, a retired Senior Sub-Judge, on 8 February
1942.

This was not simply a religious building. It served as a meeting and community space for Lahore’s Jains, and was also associated with religious gatherings and marriages. Jain Manzil remained an important meeting place for the community until Partition in 1947.

The building still announces its history. Its original plaques survive in English, Urdu and Devanagari. Jainsymbol of auspiciousness in the faith, remain embedded in the concrete jalis. The old
wooden windows, balconies and geometric screens are also remarkably intact.

And then there is
the brutal interruption of history. Barely
five years after the hall opened, Partition emptied Lahore of most of its Jain
population. The building subsequently passed into other uses and parts of it
became residential. What had been a living community institution became another
forgotten remnant of the old city.

In 2023, the Walled City of Lahore Authority
formally declared Jain Hall a protected #heritage property, which
makes the conservation work now visible around the building particularly
welcome.

For me, the most moving part remains those
three scripts on the walls. We often describe
pre-Partition Lahore as plural and
cosmopolitan. Here that history requires no romantic reconstruction. It is
still written on the walls.

Lahore belonged to many communities, and all
of them belong to Lahore’s history.

 

Available at: https://www.instagram.com/p/DcIlMggjPik/

 

A few days ago in Tehsil Bazaar inside the Walled City of #Lahore,
I came across the
S.S. Jain Hall, also known as #Jain Manzil, an
extraordinary surviving fragment of the city’s past

The inscriptions tell us exactly when it was
built. The foundation stone was laid by Shrimati
Sukh Devi Jain, wife of Lala Rala Ram Jain,
on 10 October 1940. The completed hall, built by the S.S. Jain Sabha Lahore,
was formally opened by Rala Ram Jain, a retired Senior Sub-Judge, on 8 February
1942.

This was not simply a religious building. It
served as a meeting and community space for Lahore’s Jains, and was also
associated with religious gatherings and marriages. Jain Manzil remained an
important meeting place for the community until Partition in 1947.

The building still announces its history.
Its original plaques survive in English, Urdu and Devanagari. Jainsymbol of
auspiciousness in the faith, remain embedded in the concrete jalis. The old
wooden windows, balconies and geometric screens are also remarkably intact.

And then there is
the brutal interruption of history. Barely
five years after the hall opened, Partition emptied Lahore of most of its Jain
population. The building subsequently passed into other uses and parts of it
became residential. What had been a living community institution became another
forgotten remnant of the old city.

In 2023, the Walled City of Lahore Authority
formally declared Jain Hall a protected #heritage property, which
makes the conservation work now visible around the building particularly
welcome.

For me, the most moving part remains those
three scripts on the walls. We often describe
pre-Partition Lahore as plural and
cosmopolitan. Here that history requires no romantic reconstruction. It is
still written on the walls.

Lahore belonged to many communities, and all
of them belong to Lahore’s history.

 

Available at: https://www.instagram.com/p/DcIlMggjPik/

Took a trip to my relatives' village just outside Lahore, and it’s crazy how much the vibe has shifted.

A few years back, this place was all kacha houses, quiet dirt paths, and absolute peace. Now, the urban sprawl has swallowed it up. The rustic scenery has been entirely replaced by concrete blocks, constant engine noises, and paved roads.

I'm definitely glad the people living here have better facilities and an easier lifestyle now, but it's bittersweet. It honestly feels like the true essence of the pind has been lost to generic construction.

Convolutional Neural Networks Analysis Reveals Three Possible Sources of Bronze Age Writings between Greece and India † Shruti Daggumati and Peter Z. Revesz *

This paper analyzes the relationships among eight ancient scripts from between Greece and India. We used convolutional neural networks combined with support vector machines to give a numerical rating of the similarity between pairs of signs (one sign from each of two different scripts). Two scripts that had a one-to-one matching of their signs were determined to be related. The result of the analysis is the finding of the following three groups, which are listed in chronological order: (1) Sumerian pictograms, the Indus Valley script, and the proto-Elamite script; (2) Cretan hieroglyphs and Linear B; and (3) the Phoenician, Greek, and Brahmi alphabets. Based on their geographic locations and times of appearance, Group (1) may originate from Mesopotamia in the early Bronze Age, Group (2) may originate from Europe in the middle Bronze Age, and Group (3) may originate from the Sinai Peninsula in the late Bronze Age.

Available at: https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1339&context=csearticles

PAPER:

IDENTICAL GRAPHEME WITH SHARED VALUE IN THE INDUS AND PHOENICIAN SCRIPTS

Concordance of Text and Iconography on Indus Seals

by Mahaveer H Muhammad

This paper focuses on a comparative analysis of the Indus script sign P-245 and its

corresponding grapheme in the Phoenician alphabet. The Phoenician script is widely

acknowledged as the progenitor of most modern alphabets, including those of Aramaic,

Etruscan, and ultimately, the Latin script.[1] While the Indus script is often posited as a

potential precursor to both Western and Indian writing systems, this study contends that the

Indus script's influence is more pronounced in the evolution of Western alphabets. CNN

analysis suggests Phoenician, not Brahmi, closer to Indus script.[2]

Ahttps://authorea-prod.literatumonline.com/doi/full/10.22541/au.172416979.94159950/v1

Available art: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g4T0z-bpO3c

I visited the Akbari Darwaza at #Lahore #Fort and saw the impressive conservation work being carried out by the Aga Khan Cultural Service Pakistan. I had seen the gateway before, but this time I was able to go inside, climb upstairs and look closely at details that are otherwise easy to miss.

Built during Emperor Akbar’s reign, the gateway is massive and imposing from the outside. Inside, however, it reveals a different character: passages, chambers, narrow staircases, arched openings and rooms on the upper level. This was not merely an entrance but a functioning part of the Fort, used by those who guarded and managed access to the imperial complex.

At the main entrance, there are also intriguing painted images of Hindu gods and goddesses, possibly added during the Sikh period under Maharaja Ranjit Singh. They are another reminder of the many historical layers that Lahore Fort accumulated long after the Mughal period.

Upstairs was particularly fascinating. The surviving frescoes and painted surfaces are beautiful, even in their faded and fragmentary state. Floral patterns, niches and traces of colour give a sense of how richly decorated these interiors once were. The light coming through the arches and falling across old brick and plaster adds to the atmosphere.

What impressed me most was the restraint and quality of the conservation. The frescoes have not been repainted to make them look new, nor have the old surfaces been excessively restored. The surviving work has been cleaned, stabilised and conserved while its age remains visible. The faded pigments, worn plaster and imperfections are still there, as they should be.

Too often, restoration means making an old building look new. Here, the effort is to preserve what has survived and allow the monument to retain the marks of its long history. Walking through the Akbari Darwaza, climbing its stairs and seeing these details up close was a reminder of how many layers of Lahore’s past are still hidden within the Fort. Kudos u/agakhanculturalservicepakistan

Available at: https://www.instagram.com/p/Db2rStcDHGL/

 

I visited the Akbari Darwaza at #Lahore #Fort and saw the impressive conservation work being carried out by the Aga Khan Cultural Service Pakistan. I had seen the gateway before, but this time I was able to go inside, climb upstairs and look closely at details that are otherwise easy to miss.

Built during Emperor Akbar’s reign, the gateway is massive and imposing from the outside. Inside, however, it reveals a different character: passages, chambers, narrow staircases, arched openings and rooms on the upper level. This was not merely an entrance but a functioning part of the Fort, used by those who guarded and managed access to the imperial complex.

At the main entrance, there are also intriguing painted images of Hindu gods and goddesses, possibly added during the Sikh period under Maharaja Ranjit Singh. They are another reminder of the many historical layers that Lahore Fort accumulated long after the Mughal period.

Upstairs was particularly fascinating. The surviving frescoes and painted surfaces are beautiful, even in their faded and fragmentary state. Floral patterns, niches and traces of colour give a sense of how richly decorated these interiors once were. The light coming through the arches and falling across old brick and plaster adds to the atmosphere.

What impressed me most was the restraint and quality of the conservation. The frescoes have not been repainted to make them look new, nor have the old surfaces been excessively restored. The surviving work has been cleaned, stabilised and conserved while its age remains visible. The faded pigments, worn plaster and imperfections are still there, as they should be.

Too often, restoration means making an old building look new. Here, the effort is to preserve what has survived and allow the monument to retain the marks of its long history. Walking through the Akbari Darwaza, climbing its stairs and seeing these details up close was a reminder of how many layers of Lahore’s past are still hidden within the Fort. Kudos u/agakhanculturalservicepakistan

Available at: https://www.instagram.com/p/Db2rStcDHGL/

 

I visited the Akbari Darwaza at #Lahore #Fort and saw the impressive conservation work being carried out by the Aga Khan Cultural Service Pakistan. I had seen the gateway before, but this time I was able to go inside, climb upstairs and look closely at details that are otherwise easy to miss.

Built during Emperor Akbar’s reign, the gateway is massive and imposing from the outside. Inside, however, it reveals a different character: passages, chambers, narrow staircases, arched openings and rooms on the upper level. This was not merely an entrance but a functioning part of the Fort, used by those who guarded and managed access to the imperial complex.

At the main entrance, there are also intriguing painted images of Hindu gods and goddesses, possibly added during the Sikh period under Maharaja Ranjit Singh. They are another reminder of the many historical layers that Lahore Fort accumulated long after the Mughal period.

Upstairs was particularly fascinating. The surviving frescoes and painted surfaces are beautiful, even in their faded and fragmentary state. Floral patterns, niches and traces of colour give a sense of how richly decorated these interiors once were. The light coming through the arches and falling across old brick and plaster adds to the atmosphere.

What impressed me most was the restraint and quality of the conservation. The frescoes have not been repainted to make them look new, nor have the old surfaces been excessively restored. The surviving work has been cleaned, stabilised and conserved while its age remains visible. The faded pigments, worn plaster and imperfections are still there, as they should be.

Too often, restoration means making an old building look new. Here, the effort is to preserve what has survived and allow the monument to retain the marks of its long history. Walking through the Akbari Darwaza, climbing its stairs and seeing these details up close was a reminder of how many layers of Lahore’s past are still hidden within the Fort. Kudos @agakhanculturalservicepakistan

Available at: https://www.instagram.com/p/Db2rStcDHGL/

Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2023_Pakistani_census