PESHAWAR, July 19: The federal government has authorised a six- member committee to work out modalities for the decentralisation of department of archeology and museums and look into financial viability of the plan, sources said.

Official sources said that the ministry of culture, sports, tourism, minorities and youth affairs had issued a notification in that regard and formally directed the committee to work out a plan and finalize its report within two months.

The former director of the archeology and museums, NWFP, Prof Farid Khan, is heading the six-member committee. Under the proposed plan monuments, protected sites and museums will be handed over to the provinces and would also examine existing antiquity acts, both federal and provincial. An official said that the first meeting of the committee was likely to be held in Peshawar.

The officials are debating the status of the archaeological relics of the province which are being held by museums elsewhere. In the committee meeting, the department is likely to demand the return of all such relics except those on display at the Karachi National Museum, sources said.

“The NWFP will ask the federal government to return objects and artifacts to the province”, an official of the department of archeology said.

He said that statues, sculptures and relics which belonged to Gandhara civilization had been shifted from NWFP to other museums.