03 November 2004	Wednesday	19 Ramazan 1425

PESHAWAR, Nov 2: The Frontier Corps has undertaken a project in the centuries-old Bala Hissar fort without taking permission from the archaeological authorities, officials told Dawn.

They pointed out that under the Antiquities Act 1975, alteration, construction of new structures and other development work on the premises of an archaeological site could not be undertaken without permission from the competent authorities.

Sources said the FC had not taken permission from the authorities concerned before launching a Rs6 million project under which a mosque is being constructed.

The FC uses the fort as its headquarters and it has stationed about 1,100 troops there. It had earlier constructed a petrol pump and a gas station in front of the monument and now it has started construction inside the fort.

The structure is being constructed at an altitude inside the fort and its minaret is visible from the Grand Trunk Road.

The minaret, according to sources, would be 80 feet high and is likely to affect the classical facade of the structure built by the first Mughal emperor, Zahirudin Babar.

NWFP Culture and Tourism Secretary Amjad Nazir said the provincial government could not to stop the construction because the fort was the property of the military establishment.

"The law doesn't allow new construction, alteration or repair work on protected immovable antiquity," an archaeologist said.

Section 20 of the Antiquities Act 1975 says: "The owner of a protected immovable antiquity shall not make any alteration or renovation in or addition to the antiquity. Provided that may, with the permission of the director, make minor adjustments considered necessary for the day-to-day use of the antiquity."

Officials said that though the fort was the property of the paramilitary forces, it was an archaeological monument and a significant asset of the national heritage.

An FC official said the fort was the property of the military establishment and the management did not require a no-objection certificate from any authority, though it was an archaeological site.

The FC also planned to establish a museum in the fort, for which its authorities had approached the federal archaeological department.

The NWFP government has requested the interior ministry to hand over possession of the fort to it so that it can open the site for visitors.

The FC, according to sources, has made the handing over of the fort conditional to provision of funds for the establishment of its headquarters at a location selected in the Hayatabad housing scheme.