Peshawar: The Pakistan Army has commissioned a rare Buddha statue to enrich the collection of the famous Peshawar Museum and help promote religious tourism in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. This museum attracts hundreds of tourists every year. The old name of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was Gandhara and the region is a very sacred place for the followers of Buddhism.
Every year, monks from different countries visit the Gandhara region, especially in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Peshawar Museum is known for having one of the world’s largest collections of architecture on Buddha. A few years ago, the tallest Buddha statue in the museum was taken to Switzerland to be displayed at an international exhibition for 100 days. Commander of the Peshawar Corps of the Army, Lieutenant General Muhammad Noman presented the statue which was found during excavations at Takhtbai in 1935 to a British Major.
It was formally placed in the museum by the officials of the Department of Archeology. Director Archeology Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Dr. Abdus Samad quoted General Noman as saying that Peshawar Museum is the right place to keep the Buddha statue which is visited by a large number of foreign and Pakistani tourists every year. Research officer of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Department of Archeology Nawaz-ud-Din said last year that Gandhara was considered as a center of knowledge during the time of the Kushan dynasty about 2000 years ago and people from all over the world came to the knowledge of Buddhism. Used to come here
