PWHI · pwhi.digitalPakistan's Heritage Digital Ecosystem

The nomination pipeline · advocacy file

The 29 — still waiting.

Twenty-nine sites are ready to carry Pakistan’s name to the world. Not one dossier has crossed the line since 1997. A Tentative List entry is a formal declaration by Pakistan that a site has potential Outstanding Universal Value. It is step one of the World Heritage process — and for most of these sites, the last step ever taken. PWHI’s demand is simple: a funded, time-bound nomination programme that converts this list into inscriptions.

7waiting since 1993 — over three decades
10added 2004 — waiting 22 years
8added 2016 — landscapes & mixed sites
4added March 2026 — the pipeline is alive; conversion is not

1993 batch 2004 batch 2016 batch 2026 batch · waiting years computed from UNESCO submission dates, as of July 2026

Badshahi Mosque, Lahore

Cultural · Punjab · UNESCO ref 1277
32.6 years waiting · listed 1993
Aurangzeb's great mosque — the obvious extension to inscribed Lahore Fort.

Chaukhandi Tombs, Karachi

Cultural · Sindh · UNESCO ref 1287
32.6 years waiting · listed 1993
Carved sandstone tombs of a distinctive Sindhi funerary art.

Hiran Minar and Tank, Sheikhupura

Cultural · Punjab · UNESCO ref 1281
32.6 years waiting · listed 1993
A Mughal minaret of a beloved deer, over a vast water tank.

Rani Kot Fort, Dadu

Cultural · Sindh · UNESCO ref 1284
32.6 years waiting · listed 1993
The Great Wall of Sindh — one of the largest forts on earth.

Shah Jahan Mosque, Thatta

Cultural · Sindh · UNESCO ref 1286
32.6 years waiting · listed 1993
A Shah Jahan mosque famous for tile and acoustics — beside inscribed Makli.

Tombs of Jahangir, Asif Khan and Akbari Sarai, Lahore

Cultural · Punjab · UNESCO ref 1279
32.6 years waiting · listed 1993
Jahangir's garden-tomb — a Mughal funerary landscape.

Wazir Khan's Mosque, Lahore

Cultural · Punjab · UNESCO ref 1278
32.6 years waiting · listed 1993
The summit of Mughal tilework, hidden in the Walled City.

Archaeological Site of Harappa

Cultural · Punjab · UNESCO ref 1878
22.5 years waiting · listed 2004
The city that named a civilisation — and still is not inscribed.

Archaeological Site of Mehrgarh

Cultural · Balochistan · UNESCO ref 1876
22.5 years waiting · listed 2004
Where South Asia's Neolithic began — the root of the whole Indus story.

Archaeological Site of Ranigat

Cultural · Khyber Pakhtunkhwa · UNESCO ref 1879
22.5 years waiting · listed 2004
A vast Buddhist city in the hills of Gandhara.

Archaeological Site of Rehman Dheri

Cultural · Khyber Pakhtunkhwa · UNESCO ref 1877
22.5 years waiting · listed 2004
One of South Asia's earliest planned towns.

Baltit Fort

Cultural · Gilgit-Baltistan · UNESCO ref 1882
22.5 years waiting · listed 2004
A 700-year fort above Hunza — and a model of what restoration can be.

Mansehra Rock Edicts

Cultural · Khyber Pakhtunkhwa · UNESCO ref 1881
22.5 years waiting · listed 2004
Ashokan edicts on three boulders — a text older than most monuments.

Port of Banbhore

Cultural · Sindh · UNESCO ref 1885
22.5 years waiting · listed 2004
The ancient port of Debal — and one of the earliest mosques in South Asia.

Shahbazgarhi Rock Edicts

Cultural · Khyber Pakhtunkhwa · UNESCO ref 1880
22.5 years waiting · listed 2004
Ashoka's words, carved in stone in the 3rd century BCE.

Tomb of Bibi Jawindi, Baha'al-Halim and Ustead and the Tomb and Mosque of Jalaluddin Bukhari

Cultural · Punjab · UNESCO ref 1883
22.5 years waiting · listed 2004
Glazed-tile shrines at risk — heritage on the world's watch-lists.

Tomb of Shah Rukn-e-Alam

Cultural · Punjab · UNESCO ref 1884
22.5 years waiting · listed 2004
The monumental Tughlaq tomb that crowns Multan.

Central Karakorum National Park

Natural · Gilgit-Baltistan · UNESCO ref 6112
10.3 years waiting · listed 2016
K2 and the greatest gathering of high peaks and glaciers outside the poles.

Deosai National Park

Natural · Gilgit-Baltistan · UNESCO ref 6115
10.3 years waiting · listed 2016
The 'land of giants' — a high plateau and its brown bears.

Derawar and the Desert Forts of Cholistan

Cultural · Punjab · UNESCO ref 6108
10.3 years waiting · listed 2016
The forty bastions of Derawar and the lost forts of the Cholistan sands.

Hingol Cultural Landscape

Mixed · Balochistan · UNESCO ref 6109
10.3 years waiting · listed 2016
Pilgrimage, mud volcanoes and a wild coast in one landscape.

Karez System Cultural Landscape

Cultural (living) · Balochistan · UNESCO ref 6110
10.3 years waiting · listed 2016
An ancient underground water civilisation still running by gravity.

Nagarparkar Cultural Landscape

Cultural · Sindh · UNESCO ref 6111
10.3 years waiting · listed 2016
Jain temples and granite hills at the meeting of faiths.

The Salt Range and Khewra Salt Mine

Mixed · Punjab · UNESCO ref 6118
10.3 years waiting · listed 2016
The world's great salt archive — geology, mining history and temples.

Ziarat Juniper Forest

Natural · Balochistan · UNESCO ref 6116
10.3 years waiting · listed 2016
One of the oldest, largest juniper forests on the planet.

Kalasha Valley Cultural Landscape

Cultural (living) · Khyber Pakhtunkhwa · UNESCO ref 6965
0.4 years waiting · listed 2026
The living culture of the Kalash — Pakistan's most distinctive intangible heritage.

Kot Diji Fort

Cultural · Sindh · UNESCO ref 6968
0.3 years waiting · listed 2026
A Talpur fort standing guard over the pre-Indus town that named a culture.

Naukot Fort

Cultural · Sindh · UNESCO ref 6969
0.3 years waiting · listed 2026
A desert stronghold on the threshold of the Thar.

Umerkot Fort

Cultural · Sindh · UNESCO ref 6970
0.3 years waiting · listed 2026
The desert fort where a Mughal emperor was born.

What conversion takes — and what’s missing

A successful nomination needs a complete dossier: a statement of Outstanding Universal Value, comparative analysis, boundary and buffer-zone mapping, a management plan, and state-of-conservation evidence. That requires specialist drafting teams, survey funding, and federal–provincial coordination — precisely the capacities Pakistan’s heritage budgets do not currently fund.

PWHI’s pipeline demands

  1. A standing World Heritage Nomination Task Force — federal–provincial, professionally staffed, with a public work plan.
  2. Two to three priority dossiers in 36 months — starting with the strongest candidates for OUV and readiness.
  3. A dedicated budget line for dossier preparation in federal PSDP and provincial ADPs.
  4. Published readiness assessments for all 29 — so progress can be tracked and stagnation named.
  5. Protect while they wait: Tentative status confers no legal protection — every candidate needs domestic protection now.

→ Read the full policy platform

Data: UNESCO World Heritage Centre Tentative List records (whc.unesco.org), compiled July 2026. Suggested citation: PWHI, “The 29 — Nomination Pipeline”, pwhi.digital/tentative.