Stolen heritage: Gandhara antiques recovered

Police officials implicated in theft.

MANSEHRA:

The police claimed to have recovered antiquities from a man’s custody who had allegedly sold them to a jeweller in Peshawar in connivance with police officials. The District Police Officer (DPO) has suspended an ASI and a constable and an inquiry has been initiated against an inspector.

City police said they raided Khushal Khan’s house on a tip-off in Jandar Banda village and recovered 13 antiquities that he claimed were given to him by Shah Nawaz, arrested by the city police for possessing hashish about a month back. The Khan was booked under the Antiquities Act.

According to police sources, Inspector Waheed Tanoli, Mansehra confiscated the artefacts from Shahnawaz and lodged an FIR for recovery of hashish. Shahnawaz told the judicial magistrate that Tanoli had also recovered 13 antiquities which he did not record in the recovery memo. DPO Mansehra ordered an inquiry and the antiquities were recovered. Khan also nominated ASI Wajid Khan and Constable Kashif Khan as Tanoli’s accomplices. Sources said Tanoli had given the antiquities to one of his front men who sold them to a jeweller in Peshawar for Rs4.5 million. However, when the matter came to light, the antiquities were brought back to Mansehra and Khushal Khan was shown as the accused and arrested for the offence.

Shakirullah Khan, assistant professor of archaeology at the Hazara University told The Express Tribune that the antiquities comprise Buddha’s head and nine bodhisattvas, his attendants, belong to the Kushan period, circa 5th century. He said some of the heads including Buddha’s were intact while some of the heads indicate they were skillfully repaired with stucco. The antiques were stolen from Khanpur, Haripur district, according to him. He said the police have promised to donate the recovered antiquities to the Hazara University museum.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 28^th, 2011.