Shalimar Bagh (top) and Shahi Qilla in Lahore

New Delhi, Aug. 17: For those who believe that the future of India-Pakistan ties is written in stone, here’s more proof.

At a time bombings and ceasefire violations have strained diplomatic relations, Pakistan hopes to send a team to India to shop for sandstone to save some of its proudest heritage.

Lahore’s majestic Shahi Qilla and the sprawling Shalimar Bagh need red sandstone, found only in India. Built by the Mughals, these landmarks are part of the two countries’ common legacy.

The directorate-general of archaeology in Pakistan’s Punjab, the custodian of these monuments, wants to send over a team of officials next month. They will travel to the quarries near Agra, from where the red sandstone came during the Mughal era, too, and look for the perfect match.

“This is the first time such a trip to the old quarries has been planned,” director-general Nasrullah Khan Balouch told The Telegraph. “We also need stone for the Badshahi Mosque.”

The Badshahi Mosque, inspired by Delhi’s Jama Masjid, was built by Aurangzeb.

Pakistan has so far made minor repairs to these structures and this is the first time it plans major renovation with sandstone.

“It is important that the new stone used on these buildings matches the colour, texture and strength of the original material,” said the joint director-general of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), B.R. Mani. “Otherwise, the buildings will look odd.”

Many of the Unesco-designated World Heritage Sites in India and Pakistan — including forts in Delhi, Agra and Lahore — were built from red sandstone, all quarried from the same area. But while the Mughals quarried the stone from Sikri near Agra, over the years the mines have moved further away from the city.

“The trip could lead to further (archaeological) collaboration between the two countries,” said Mani, who believes that India and Pakistan cannot conserve their shared heritage without cross-border help.

Mani, who has just returned from a symposium organised by Peshawar University, spoke of his experience in Pakistan.

The ASI official, one of only three foreign scholars at the conference, said he got a chance to see Taxila, a site he had so far been able to study only through archival black-and-white photographs.

“We could actually see Taxila in colour,” he said, eyes shining. Mani believes the digital images he took of the sprawling site will help the ASI understand Indian history better.

Such collaboration has not been forthcoming so far.

L.K. Advani, during his 2006 trip to Pakistan, had visited the Katas Raj temples and been bowled over by the way they had been preserved. He had then suggested that Pakistan allow India to help with the maintenance of the shrines.

An ASI team then visited Pakistan and handed in a proposal for help, but it hasn’t been seriously taken up.