KARACHI, Pakistan - A plan by the son of assassinated former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto to hold a cultural festival at an ancient site in southern Pakistan has sparked contention, with several leading archaeologists saying Friday that it could damage the ruins.

Bilawal Bhutto Zardari is spearheading the event, to be held today at Mohenjodaro, where one of the largest settlements of the Indus Valley civilization existed thousands of years ago, as part of efforts to publicize the southern Pakistani region of Sindh’s rich cultural heritage. But the plans sparked contention among experts who fear that the stage and other infrastructure needed to host the event could damage the delicate mud ruins that already are suffering from water and salinity damage.

“It is nothing but insanity,” said archaeologist Asma Ibrahim, a member of the Management Board for Antiquities and Physical Heritage of the Sindh government. She said the chairman of the board sent a letter to the provincial government to draw attention to concerns about the festival.

She said the stage and sound and light show could damage the delicate walls of the ruins.

Another senior archaeologist, who heads the University of Punjab’s archaeology department, said he was not attending the festival in protest.

“I am very sad over what they are going to do there in the name of a cultural festival,” Farzand Masih said.

But local authorities in the Sindh government who are arranging the festival said there is no risk to the ruins. A provincial archaeology official, Qasim Ali Qasim, said he is supervising arrangements to make sure no harm is caused to the site. In a statement, Zardari said he had visited the site Thursday and every step is being taken to protectthe site. He said people will not be allowed to roam freely over the ruins.

Mohenjodaro, which is listed on the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization’s list of world heritage sites, was built from unbaked brick in the third millennium B.C., according to the organization’s website. Excavations since 1922 have uncovered only one-third of the site. A UNESCO campaign ending in 1997 raised money to protect the site from flooding and to control the groundwater table.

The 25-year-old Zardari is the head of the Pakistan People’s Party, which was headed by his mother until her death in a gun and bomb attack in 2007. His father served one term as the country’s president, but it has been the younger Zardari who has become the public face of the party. The festival is seen as part of an effort to raise the younger Zardari’s profile on the national political stage.

Front Section, Pages 7 on 02/01/2014