FINAL ATTEMPT TO REVIVE CARAVAN OF DIALOGUE DURING THE COLD WAR:(Travelling with A. H. Dani in China and Soviet Central Asia)

Abstract

It has been recognized by some academics that Prof. Dani was the father of Pakistan archaeology, but this essay identifies him as the father of a brand-new Silk Road studies which is characterized by Prof. Ahmad H. Dani’s efforts to revive an inter-civilization, inter-faith and inter-value dialogues on the Silk Roads during the last two years of the Cold War. Prof. Dani was the scientific leader of three UNESCO Desert, Steppe and Maritime expeditions. Being a journalist at that that time, the author travelled with him along the three routes, studying and reporting on the Silk Road archaeology. Most of the chapters of the essay are diaries of the author's travels with Prof. Dani on the roads.