PESHAWAR, Feb 10: The Frontier police on Sunday ended its more than half-a-century occupation of Gorkhat Tree, a protected monument in the city.

The police department relinquished its occupation of the historical site on the directives of the provincial government, and shifted its force to an appropriate site.

Nine platoons of the Frontier Reserve Police (FRP) were stationed in Gorkhat Tree, located on a high spot towards the eastern edge of the city.

A police official told Dawn that on the directives of the provincial government, the FRP had relocated its force to the Tatara Police Station, Hayatabad, the Town Police Station and the Kotwali Police Station.

He said the department was looking for some place for the ammunition to be shifted from the monument within a couple of days.

The city fire brigade department, which parks six fire engines at the site, is waiting for an evacuation notice.

The government and the Department of Archaeology, University of Peshawar, have planned to preserve and conserve the monument, which is regarded a place of Hindu saints. The department has declared the monument a protected site under the Antiquity Act 1975.

Archaeologists believe that Zahiruddin Babar, the founder of the Mughal dynasty in India, Akbar and Jehangir visited the site. In 1640, Princess Jehan Ara, the daughter of Emperor Shah Jehan, converted it into an inn (Sarai), named Jehanabad.

The Mughal Empire stationed a police force and established the C Division Police Station in the first decade of the 19th century, paving the way for other departments to establish their offices.

At present, the monument houses revenue offices, a police station, a wireless control centre, a police lockup, a fire brigade, a dispensary, a marriage centre, a community centre and a residential colony.

The Gorekhat Tree monument is the worst example of vandalism in our society and speaks volumes of the inefficiency and lethargy of the Department of Archaeology.

The two main gates of the centuries old monument and its residential portion are on the verge of collapse. Only one of the four towers exists.