SHANGLA: Landowners in Puran tehsil here have demolished an archaeological site which was not explored, but documented by the archaeology department in 2002, according to sources.

They claimed that local landowners had started digging at the site where a Buddhist masonry had been demolished and further work was underway.

“A few days ago we visited the archaeological site in Aloch, Puran, where Gandahara civilisation site was located, but we found the site demolished. We found some unearthed materials while people were busy in digging at the site. A wall masonry has been damaged,” said Ijaz Hassan, a local archaeologist.

When contacted, Aloch SHO Pervez Khan said that the landowners wanted to build a market at the place. He said that a week ago he had asked them to stop work at the site.

Mr Hassan claimed that the walls in different areas were lying exposed to natural environment, adding that the sites had been documented in the previous surveys.

Aloch SHO says he has asked them to stop work

He said that there were several archaeological sites in the district with the potential to attract tourists. He said that all such sites needed to be protected from natural environment.

POLICE OPERATIONS: Shangla police have conducted 322 search and strike operations in the district in past two months and arrested 1,120 suspects and recovered a big quantity of arms and ammunition.

A statement issued by DPO Malak Ihjaz Khan on Sunday said that Shangla police had conducted 322 operations across the district in which 1,120 suspects were arrested.

The statement said that 127 pistols, 65 shotguns, six Kalashnikovs, four rifles, 5,712 cartridges, 12 dynamites, 21 detonators, 3.5kg explosives and 9kg Hashish were recovered from the suspects in operations during last two months.

It said that seven proclaimed offenders were also arrested during raids in the district.

Published in Dawn, March 16th, 2020