MARDAN, Aug 29: A man on Wednesday killed his brother-in-law and injured his sister near the new bus terminal here over love marriage, and fled.

An official of the city police said the couple were to leave for Peshawar from Takhbai tehsil before Pervez fired gunshots at them, killing Sherwali and critically injuring Reshma.

He said the woman, of Hazarhawani area in Peshawar district, eloped with Sherwali eight months ago after her family didn’t approve of the marriage.

The official said police registered a case against the alleged killer and began investigation.

He, however, said no arrest could be made by night.

Meanwhile, archaeologists have demanded that the provincial government secure possession of local ancient artifacts exhibited in other parts of the country.

The demand was made during a meeting at Abdul Wali Khan University, Mardan.

The chair, Vice Chancellor Professor Ihsan Ali, also an archeologist, apprised participants of the history of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa from the Stone Age to the British Raj and said Indus and Gandhara civilisations, two major in the world, flourished in the region.

He said Gandhara region comprised Peshawar, Dir, Buner and Swat valleys and its art expanded beyond the Indus River in Pakistani province of Punjab and Afghan area of Bamyan.

Professor Ihsan said thousands of Gandhara artefacts had been recovered in the region over the last two centuries but they all were displayed in the nationwide and overseas museums.

He said ancient artefacts from the province were stolen and smuggled out of the country before being displayed in museums.

The meeting was told that according to a survey conducted by Unesco in 2005, only in Pakistan, the museums of Taxila, Lahore, Islamabad and Karachi had 8,349 objects from Gandhara civilisation.

Some archaeologists said the previous provincial government had passed a resolution in the assembly urging the federal government to return artefacts to it, but to no avail.

They regretted that in the post-devolution regime, the centre had yet to hand over ancient artefacts to the respective provinces.

Archeologists demanded formation of a federal committee comprising archaeologists, relevant officials and other stakeholders from all provinces and the centre to resolve the matter.