"We would like to get assistance. But the current situation is that we have not been able to contact, but we will," museum director Ali Waheed told PTI when asked if he had approached the Indian government for help. Recalling the tragic events of February 7 when religious extremists stormed the Museum, built by the Chinese, Ali said the vandals were armed with rocks.
"They first threw rocks at the glass and then smashed the artifacts against each other. They also pushed down the glass cases in which the items of the pre-Islamic era were kept," Ali said. He said there were about 32-35 exhibits and almost 90 per cent of them were smashed to little pieces. After been sweeped off the floor, the exhibits are now locked in a room and efforts to restore them would be made.
"It is difficult to restore as most of them have been broken to tiny pieces," Assistant Curator at the Museum Ismail Ashraf said. Asked if the Museum had ever received any threats earlier with regard to the pre-Islamic exhibits, Ali said he had "heard" that few people were talking about it. "We had heard that some people were questioning why we are keeping non-Muslim exhibits in the Museum. There was never any direct threat. We did not expect it," Ali said.