LAHORE: The Khayber Pakhtunkhwa Directorate of
archaeology and Museums has unilaterally taken
over many properties in control of federal government’s Evacuee Trust Property Board (ETPB) in Peshawar, generating a controversy between the two departments making the latter to obtain a stay order against the move.The
ETPB has also sought an official explanation from the KPK
archaeology Department for taking
over certain properties, including holy
sites of Sikhs and Hindus, in Peshawar, The News has learnt.ETPB secretary Tariq Khan said after the KPK Assembly had passed a resolution asking the federal government to hand
over some of the old
sites located in the KPK to the provincial
archaeology department, it (the department) put up notices on certain properties claiming its takeover. The properties included Sikh Gurdwara Bhai Bibian Singh, Keirat temple of Hindus and Chacha Yunus Park, Puj-Teerath, and the notices said that from onwards these
sites would be overseen by the
archaeology department.The
ETPB secretary said that the department had also evicted illegal occupants of the
sites in the past. He said
ETPB deputy administrator Humayun Khan had obtained a stay order against the action of the
archaeology department from a local court, and issued notices to it to explain its position. He said the
ETPB had also sent a letter to the KPK
archaeology minister and secretary explaining that those properties were the sacred
sites of Hindus and Sikhs and had been under administrative control of the
ETPB under relevant laws and hence could not be handed
over to any other department. The letter said that
ETPB had been the custodian of these properties under the Management and Disposal Act 1975 and its protection, renovation and preservation was the responsibility of ETPB. Deputy administrator Humayun Khan said that archeology department’s action had caused concern among Sikhs and Hindus living in Pakistan and other parts of the world. He said the action had also created problems and badly affected the income of ETPB.The
ETPB secretary has also asked the KPK Archeology Department to not interfere with the federal government affairs. He said the letter had also mentioned that the action of putting up notices created problems in getting rent and invoked disputes between tenants and the ETPB.Further it was mentioned in the letter that
ETPB properties are attached to religious, educational and charitable institutions and governed under Evacuee Trust Properties (Management &Disposal) Actn.XIII OF 1975.Peshawar
archaeology Director Dr Abdul Samad told The News that the archeology department has decided to excavate, preserve and renovate the sacred places of minorities in the KPK, including the Punj Teerath, a Hindu sacred site, for the promotion of religious tourism in the country.He said the
archaeology department would not take
over the historic
sites under control of the
ETPB and those
sites would be returned to it and opened to public after necessary preservation work. Therefore, the KPK government has notified Puj-Teerath site as protected archeological site under the Government of KPK Antiquity Act 2016.The domain of Archeology department starts when
ETPB demolishes the
historical building. They cannot demolish the site or
historical places without our permission. We have made a request to the government and
ETPB officials not to demolish the site and construct the building on sacred sites.Punj-teerath is a Hindu sacred site and was there for 2000 years. Temples were also made
over there. The site was handed
over to
ETPB after independence. Now, the archeology department wants to excavate it and preserve it. After conservation, the site would be opened to the people across the world.According to the KPK government is not going claim ownership of the site. The department was not going to possess any property of ETPB, said the director.
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