PESHAWAR: Documentation of Gandhara antiques urged
Bureau Report
PESHAWAR, Nov 13: Archaeologists stressed the need to document the endangered Gandhara art objects which would help identify antiques and curb their smuggling. "Documentation is needed to bring back the stolen or smuggled Gandhara art pieces. It helps to identify and claim the artefacts," archaeologist Dr Ihsan Ali said at a consultative meeting of experts held here on Monday at the Sir Sahibzada Abdul Qayyum Museum.
He said that a unique Buddha statue, which was smuggled or stolen from Shaikhano Dheri, was brought back from the Berlin museum because it was documented.
The two-day meeting was organised by Uneco and the University of Peshawar’s archaeology department to develop a strategy for ‘preservation of endangered movable cultural assets of Gandhara art’.
Archaeologist from the NWFP, Punjab, Sindh and Balochistan, curators of various museums, federal Minister for Culture Ghazi Gulab Jamal and Unesco officials attended the meeting.
The federal minister for culture said that appropriate measures were being taken to prevent smuggling of the country’s cultural assets and retrieve antiquities seized by customs authorities in foreign countries.
"We are trying to enact such laws from the UN forum which will ensure the return of smuggled cultural assets," the federal minister said.
Archaeologists from the NWFP raised the issue of several piece of undocumented Gandhara art still lying in stores.
According to them, there were 954 objects which were on display in the Peshawar Museum while 4,544 were still lying in the store. In Swat museum alone, 151 objects were on display and 3,029 were in store there.
Shortage of standard showcases, trained staff, lack of equipment for proper documentation and conservation were some of the main issue at the museums, they said.
"Protection of these unique pieces is also an issue which should be addressed," archaeologists said.
They also called for the return of all collections of the Gandhara art in all the world museums as they belonged either to Pakistan or Afghanistan.
"They belong to us. They were either smuggled or stolen by robbers from our museums," they said.
Officials of the provincial archaeology department said that for preservation, documentation was necessary and for this purpose the Greek government had pledged a financial support amounting to 1.5 million euros for excavation and development of Hund Museum in Swabi district where the NWFP government had already spent Rs22 million.
The PC-1 of the Mardan museum costing Rs40 million would also be presented next month. Museums in Citral, Abbotabad, Hazara would be also developed as some 60 archaeological sites had been discovered in Hazara, archeaolgoists said.
Experts said that Unesco had extended assistance for preserving Gandhara art in museums in Peshawar, Swat and elsewhere but more efforts were needed to protect the cultural assets.
