Herald Report In 2012, a team of archaeologists discovered ancient artifects on the Naryn campus of the University of Central Asia (UCA), says a report published in the newsletter of the university recently. The University mission to help the people of Central Asia preserve and draw upon their rich cultural traditions and heritages as assets for the future came to …

Running only on fast-moving water, the pumps are cheap and easy to maintain, enabling farmers to grow fruit and vegetables By Syed Muhammad Abubakar GOJAL VALLEY: Shovel in hand, Naila Shah regularly walks two miles from her home to a newly planted apple orchard, high in the mountains of Khyber village in northern Pakistan. Only two years ago, it would …

by Fatehul Mulk Ali Nasir   Prior to Aman-ul-Mulk’s ascension to the throne of Chitral in 1858 the fortunes of this deep valley set amongst the heights of the Hindu Kush were very different. Chitral has long had a tradition of kingship, and indeed the early signs of nationhood, since at least the days of the Chinese Book of Tang, …

High Asia Herald Report  Afghan President Ashraf Ghani banned the hunting of rare birds and animals two years ago, but hunting continues across the country and the hides of rare animals can be bought in markets in the capital, Kabul. Two years ago Afghan President Ashraf Ghani had banned the hunting of rare birds and animals, but hunting continues across …

Situated in the center of Kazakhstan, ALZHIR (Акмолинский лагерь жен изменников родины, “the Akmola camp of wives of traitors to the homeland”) was a notorious prison for thousands of women during its nearly two decades of operation. Behind the barbed wire, the women had to renounce their family and loved ones in order to submit to the will of the “leader of all nations.” …

blob:https://www.rferl.org/dcefe08e-1a40-434b-bb68-ee6b75191810 A Kyrgyz wildlife center is nursing a snow leopard named Zhaabars back to health after he was badly wounded by a shotgun. Despite conservationists’ efforts, the rare cats are sometimes targeted by poachers and farmers protecting their herds. By Current Time

Herald Report   The US invasion of Iraq was aimed at setting up permanent military bases there and to benefit energy corporations and weapons industry, comments Professor Noam Chomsky, an internationally acclaimed American linguist in a conversation with Hassan Mirza, published in The Express Tribune Blogs section. The conversation is based on correspondence between the two over a period of …

Two references are under trial in a NAB court in Gilgit against the accused for their role in Rs48.28m   Herald Report   The country’s top anti-graft body has filed a corruption reference against four retired officers of the Gilgit-Baltistan’s Forest Department for inflicting over Rs48 million loss to the national exchequer by allowing the transportation of illegally cut timber. …

Herald Report Soviet architecture in Central Asia, as the name tells, is a fusion of Soviet modernity with traditional Central Asian culture that remains remarkable to this day, writes Xeniya Mironova, in Voice on Central Asia website. Persian and Islamic motifs can be still found among Soviet buildings in Dushanbe, Tashkent, Almaty, and Bishkek. But these buildings are becoming exceedingly …

Herald Report  Something remarkable is taking place around the Shigar and Khaplu forts of Baltistan. Immersed in the breathtaking scenery of the Karakoram Mountains — some of the highest in the world — and steeped in four centuries of folklore and legends, community heritage and culture are being revitalised, according to a report published on AKDN website.  Remote communities are …

Japan wants to revive the archaeological mission in Pakistan: Dr Satoshi   By Farman Ali   While appreciating the Pakistan government’s opening of Kartarpur Corridor to facilitate the Sikh community to visit Gurdwara Darbar Sahib, diplomats, academia and culture activists seek as similar initiatives for Buddhists to visit holy places in Gandhara Valley. They echoed this at a lecture on …

KARACHI: Once a prime candidate for extinction, the population of vultures in Pakistan has shown tentative signs of recovery in the past five years, but nature’s “garbage disposal” is still facing looming threats on several fronts, experts said. The population of several species of vulture started declining in the mid-1990s due to the ingestion of livestock carcasses containing residues of deadly …

https://www.rferl.org/embed/player/0/30242696. Conservationists at a zoo in Lahore, Pakistan, are trying to bolster numbers of the critically endangered Oriental white-backed vulture, after a drug used for livestock killed many of the birds.

    Herald Report Conservationists, ecologists, and environmentalists have called for enhanced efforts and awareness about the impact of climate change on snow leopard and its habitat. The impact of climate change, unmanaged tourism, and human development have affected the snow leopard and its fragile ecosystem, they noted while speaking at different events organized by the Snow Leopard Foundation (SLF) …

News Desk Observatories from all around the world, as well as other stakeholders from the public, private and academic fields have discussed the latest experiences in monitoring tourism impacts at destination level through the application of traditional and non-traditional data sources. The World Tourism Organization’s (UNWTO) International Network of Sustainable Tourism Observatories (INSTO) hosted over 100 experts to its global …