Every second month or so, Azra flies to Karachi from New York. It is not love for her relatives that brings her to Pakistan; her purpose is to buy ancient Afghan jewellery and other antiques from the local markets, and sell it off in the US. She has been in this business only for the last couple of years, but has already amassed a fortune.
Azra is only one among the many buyers of Afghan antiques available in Pakistani markets. Sold at throwaway prices, these articles fetch a handsome sum abroad. Afghan refugees who brought these artefacts into Pakistan dispose them off without realising either their historical value or material worth. Pakistani markets, especially at Karachi and Islamabad, are brimming with such 'merchandise'. Says Shahid, a shop owner at Zainab Market, one of Karachi's main business centres, "I don't know what is legal or illegal. The Afghan refugees come to our shops, sell us their belongings, whatever they could carry with them during the war, and later on we sell these articles to our customers." Most of his customers are either foreigners or people from uptown areas. "They take lot of interest in this jewellery and offer us very good prices."
Another shop owner in Zainab Market says he has stopped selling Afghan silver jewellery. Instead he collects it for a lady who comes nearly every three months, after confirming over phone about the availability. The shopkeeper says the lady pays him a "very good price" and sometimes extra as a goodwill gesture
Pakistan itself has a cultural and archaeological heritage dating back many millennia. These include the Indus Valley Civilisation sites of Mohenjodaro and Harappa, but it is the hub of the Gandhara civilisation, Taxila, with its Buddhist stupas, monasteries and temples, art, architecture and sculpture, that the country is most famous for. Gandhara is the ancient name for Kandahar, the tract of land on the west bank of the Indus river comprising Peshawar Valley and the modern Swat, Buner and Bajuar. It was one of the 22 provinces of the Persian empire in the 6th century BC. Buddhism came to the area around the 3rd century BC, and the religious art that took root and developed in this region came to be known as Gandhara, representing the life story of Buddha, and illustrating Buddhist traditions. Taxila, as the centre for Gandhara, has bequeathed a wealth of ancient artefacts.