In the near future, busloads of sweaty tourists could sink into an airconditioned auditorium, slip on a pair of goggles and marvel at the 2000-year-old ancient Buddhist rock murals at Ajanta without venturing anywhere near the fragile paintings that have been under sustained human onslaught since they were discovered by a British army officer in 1819.Far from being a computer-generated mirage, virtual reality is one among several projects in Phase-II of the Japanese-aided Development Plan for Ajanta which aims to recreate the paintings and sate the tourists' curiosity at a complex a safe four kilometres away.

However, with Phase-I concluding in mid-1998, experts say if the next phase does not commence now, a portion of our heritage could soon be history. The only hitch: India's nuclear boast at Pokharan in May 1998. In fact, the Japaneseambassador told Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) officials during a recent visit to India that all loan commitments would depend on whether this country signs the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. With that, Phase-II, which amounts to Rs 350 crore, could also be put on hold.

But as governments butt egos, the ASI says if the flow of visitors to Ajanta is not stanched immediately, deterioration of the murals could accelerate at an alarming rate. And the projections made by Tata Consultancy Services are ominous: from 7 lakh visitors per year at present, the number is estimated to rise to 1.6 million by 2000, and 2.5 million by 2005.

Moreover, besides water, bacteria, insects and bats chipping away at the paintings, the ASI has identified another pesky agent whose destructive capacity has grown immense. It says overexcited school-children, brought here in droves, are heightening erosion at a frightening pace on the archaeological time-scale. In fact, 30 per cent of the tourists here compriseschool-children.

Ironically, among the conditions stipulated by the state government for grants to aided schools is a mandatory annual excursion outside their respective cities. Since Ajanta is centrally located, schools from all over the state make a beeline for the caves. However, the ASI points out, apart from their sheer numbers, children are unable to fully appreciate the aesthetic value of the paintings besides leaving their mark, quite literally, on our heritage. Even their incessant chatter can bethe jail officials hand the Indian prisoners to their parent ministry, the ministry of interior, who then takes the prisoners to the border and pushes them to the other side, regardless of the dangers involved in such an exercise.

``This is no exaggeration. This is what they do,'' says Jilani. Confusion starts when the Indian High Commission inquires after some of these prisoners as a follow up to their cases and the Pakistani authorities are unable to produce them. ``The Indians then think that theprisoners have been killed and this adds to the confusion,'' says Jilani.

The only way that officials can verify that the prisoners have indeed reached their home is to go through official channels and have a police officer go and check at the prisoner's home. In most cases, the prisoners are reluctant to identify themselves for fear of official action for their unorthodox entry into India.

Jilani says that the Review Board is a very good exercise in Pakistan provided it is handled in a proper way. The problem, he notes, is that the interior ministry does not handle the issue well. Officials in Islamabad say that lack of co-ordination between the Interior Ministry and the Foreign Office result in the steps that take place. ``These are good bargaining chips for us,'' says a Foreign Ministry official.

Jilani said that the process to exchange prisoners has also received a setback with the fall of the A.B. Vajpayee government. Progress had been made on the issue in the Lahore deliberations and in Sri Lankato make the process of exchange more transparent and efficient.

He said that the number of prisoners was much larger than those that were being discussed by the two governments. ``The majority of prisoners have not been given consular access,'' said Jilani. He said that there were many Indian prisoners in Pakistan who had lost their mental balance because of the situation that they found themselves in. Similarly, a number of Pakistani prisoners amongst the 14 released by India in March, were of unstable mental state. ``There are many Indian prisoners here who can't even tell their names,'' says the lawyer. Another problem is because of the state of the prisoners, they end up giving incorrect addresses to their embassy officials who in turn say that the prisoner is lying because the details turn out to be false.

Both governments are also wary that prisoners are used to infiltrate the other country. The mutual suspicions on both sides makes this issue a human tragedy with no end. Jilani took the example ofa 10-year-old Pakistani boy who sat on the wrong train at Lahore and ended at Attari where he was arrested. After five years, he returned in March but is now in the custody of Pakistani authorities who are questioning him about his stay in India.Jilani says that in his estimate there are over 500 Pakistani prisoners in India who have not been provided with consular access. ``What we want to know is where are they ?'' he asks.