PESHAWAR
\nKhyber Pakthunkhwa is a unique province blessed with numerous archeological sites of Gandhara civilization and its promotion through digital platforms was imperative to attract huge foreign investment for the country.
\nWhile travelling on GT Road and Swat Motorway in northern districts of Khyber Pakthunkhwa, a visitor can explore dozens of archaeological sites of Gandhara civilization including Lord Bhuddha\u2019s artifacts, statues and antiquities at different areas and state museums including Swat, Mardan, Dir and Peshawar to explore the unique ancient treasures besides taking tourists into the glorious history of the region.
\nThe tourists, while entering Peshawar Museum where over 30,000 rare artifacts, statues, antiquities and sculptures were put on display along with ancient dresses of Wazirisan tribesmen, swords of freedom fighters and guns of the British army, could not remain unimpressed after seeing these treasures.
\nThe museums of Hund Swabi, Dir Timergara, Mingora Swat and Chitral also drew archeologists and monks from across the globe by exploring numerous precious antiquities and Ghandara\u2019s artifacts.
\n \u201cThese rare collections were excavated from various archaeological sites in KP, which spoke us the story of human evolution and their lifestyle besides the rise and fall of civilizations, spread of belief systems and stories encompassing lifespan of the Lord Buddha,\u201d said Bakhtzada Khan, research officer KP archeology and museums department while talking to APP on Thursday.
\nTakht-i-Bahi, Barikot, Bazira, Shingerdara Stupa, Butkara I, II & III, Jahanabad as well as Ghaligay and Gokdara cave with prehistoric rock carvings take tourist to the past\u2019s glory of Khyber Pakthunkhwa. \u201cA climb up to the hilltop in Odigram Swat takes tourists to the birthplace of Padmasambhawa, the second Buddha who travelled across Asia to spread Buddhism.\u201d
\nBakhatzada said KP was a home to around 2,000 heritage sites in addition to 30,000 relics of the Gandhara civilization where one can easily find sites, which are important as well as sacred for Sikhs, Hindus, Christians, Buddhists and others civilizations.
\n\u201cDespite a vast number of heritage sites, UNESCO has only included six sites in Pakistan in the World Heritage List including archaeological ruins at Moenjodaro Sindh, Buddhist monastery of Takht-i-Bahi and neighboring city remains at Seri Bahlol Mardan, and archeological ruins of Taxila in 1980.\u201d
\nIn 1981, he said two other sites, Lahore Fort Shalamar Gardens and historical monuments of Makli, near the city of Thatta, Sindh were declared world heritage sites by the UNESCO besides Rohtas Fort in 1997.
\nHe said another twenty-six Pakistani sites were on the tentative list for inclusion in the world heritage list. \u201cSeri Bahlol Mardan and Taxila are a testimony to glorious past of the region,\u201d he said adding Taxila was the capital of Gandhara Kingdom with numerous ancient sites such as Dharmarajika Stupa, the ancient cities of Bhir, Sirkap and Sirsukh, Jandial Temple, Mohra Muradu, Badalpur Stupa, Bhallar Stupa, Julian Monastery and Bhamala Stupa.
\n\u201cTaxila University is known to be the citadel of knowledge of ancient times even before the advent of Buddhism as Jivaka, the personal physician of Lord Buddha, who was a graduate in Ayurvedic medicine from Taxila University.\u201d
\n\u201cToday is an era of digital technology and social media. For sustainable religious tourism and development, we not only need to preserve our own tangible and intangible cultural heritage but to build new infrastructure while upgrading and improving the existing ones for economic benefits and enhancing the country\u2019s image abroad,\u201d said Manzoorul Haq, former Ambassador while talking to APP.
\n\u201cWe should not only rely on the government departments for the protection, projection and preservation of ancient heritage sites, but it was also the responsibility of the general public and cultural activists to preserve these sites through sensitization of local population towards importance of culture and heritage for minorities in Pakistan and shared its clips videos on digital and social media.\u201d
\nHe said this could be done by employing digital documentation in photographic and videography form especially through social media. To promote these sites, he said 3D models of various sites can be created and augmented as well as virtual reality interventions can be made.
\nAmbassador Manzoor said storytelling sessions were crucial for preservation of traditional knowledge and folk wisdom and communal gathering places like chaupal and hujras play a significant role of transferring local knowledge to next generation.
\n\u2018Our creative artists and writers can create fictional and feature stories to produce dramas and films on Gandhara civilization of ancient Pakistan as western world has created fictional stories around Egyptian civilization in various films such as Indiana Jones and The Mummy etc,\u201d Manzoorul Haq who served Pakistani ambassador at Egypt told APP.
\nVarious events, exhibitions, talks, seminars and festivals could be arranged to sensitize local people, while highlighting the significance of these sites, which are sacred for minorities, especially people of Japan, Korea, China, Taiwan, Vietnam and other Asian countries.
\nThese kinds of activities will help our local population understand that having foreign tourists visiting their sacred religious places would generate a lot of revenue for them.
\n\u201cFor sustainable religious tourism, we need to work hard on infrastructure development all across the country, where heritage sites are located; building quality hotels and guesthouses with updated websites having complete information about weather, rates and booking details.\u201d
\nManzoor said our museums need up-gradation to offer an inclusive approach with good displays and descriptive seminars as per international standards for the visitors. Installment of lifts, building ramps, offering a range of souvenirs and different audio-visual programs can also increase the cash flow for museums and help them to improve their services besides promoting research on Gandhara civilization.
\nBakhzada said Gandhara cultural heritage research centre at Islamabad has recently been inaugurated, adding the project \u2018development of cultural promotion and tourism resources of Gandhara heritage of Pakistan was funded by the Cultural Heritage Administration of Republic of Korea (CHA) and executed by Korea Cultural Heritage Foundation and Department of Archeology and Museum.
\nHe said it was a five years project 2021-2025 with four main tasks including establishment of Gandhara culture heritage research centre, capacity building of professionals and experts for heritage conservation, inventory and investigation of ghandhara sites for digital documentation and support for development of sites and museums of Ghandara civilization.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
PESHAWAR Khyber Pakthunkhwa is a unique province blessed with numerous archeological sites of Gandhara civilization and its promotion through digital platforms was imperative to attract huge foreign investment for the country. While travelling on GT Road and Swat Motorway in northern districts of Khyber Pakthunkhwa, a visitor can explore dozens of archaeological sites of Gandhara […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":317106,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-317082","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-national"},"yoast_head":"\n