PESHAWAR, Oct 8: The department of archaeology and museums has asked the federal government to return the statue of Buddha and other pieces of archaeological importance seized by the customs authorities at the Peshawar dry port on Tuesday.

“The NWFP government has requested the federal department of archaeology to honour the decisions of the Unesco Convention 1970 regarding the display of an archaeological object at its place  of origin,” director archaeology and museums NWFP Dr Ihsan Ali said.

According to the Antiquities Act 1975, seized artifacts should be considered the property of the federal government but under the Unesco convention these objects should not be taken away from their place of origin, he said.

Talking to Dawn here on Wednesday he said the federal government had already constituted a six-member committee to decentralize the federal department of archaeology.

The committee would hold its final meeting in Taxila on Oct 11 to work out modalities to decentralize the department and hand over about 300 archaeological sites to the provinces.

Officials said that Peshawar had become a big market for illegal business and export of cultural property since the Afghan war.

One official said: “Between two and three cases of illegal transportation of artifacts are detected on a daily basis.”

Officials of the federal department of archaeology and museums carried out examination of the confiscated objects and confirmed that they belong to Gandhara civilization.

Deputy director Bahadur Khan said officials had examined the seized statue and its face and body carved out from a single slab of a stone confirmed its originality.

He denied that the statue was discovered from central Afghanistan or any other area of that country.

Meanwhile, Peshawar district and sessions judge Hayat Ali Shah on Wednesday remanded the three alleged artifacts smugglers in custody for three days.

The accused, Haji Ghulam Sakhi, Humayun and Shaukat Hussain, were produced before the court by officials of the customs department. Officials contended that the three arrested persons were members of an international gang of antique smugglers.