A campaign has been launched jointly by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) and Pakistan's Central Ministry of Education to save the ruins of the 5,000-year-old city of Moenjodaro, in the Indus Valley.

A three-day seminar -- aimed t focusing world attention on the campaign -- is being opened by president Zulfikar of Pakistan on Friday (23 February) at Moenjodaro, 250 miles north of Karachi.

The 50,000 square mile Indus Valley was the cradle of one of the earliest civilizations in the world.

Excavations carried out in 1921 revealed that the inhabitants of Moenjodaro were highly civilised, possessing a well-developed system of picture writing and high standards of art and craftsmanship.

Moenjodaro were highly other fortified cities in the Indus Valley are believed to have been destroyed by Aryan invaders in about the 15th Century.

The remains of the city are now threatened by water-logging, salinity and river erosion.