The government of Pakistan and the people of Japan have great fascination for the Buddhist Civilisation of Gandhara which originated in the NWFP and influenced all the Buddhist countries of the world, said the former Director of the Peshawar Museum, Professor Fidaullah Sehrai here on Tuesday.
Delivering a lecture to a group of Japanese tourists, Professor Sehrai said that the Japanese Archaeological Mission of the Kyoto University headed by the late Professor Mizuno Dr Kuwayama and Nishikawa fully explored the districts of Mardan, Swabi and Buner.
He said that the Japanese Archaeological Mission excavated Mekha Sanda on the Karamar Mountain, Chanaka Dheri near Shahbaz Garhi, Tareli, Kashmir Smasta (Hindu-Buddhist Cave) in the Mardan and Rani Gat in the Buner districts in collaboration with the Department of Archaeology, Government of Pakistan.
He informed that the government of Japan had funded and provided equipment to the Taxila, Swat and SSAQ Museum of the Department of Archaeology University of Peshawar for their renovation programmes.
Professor Sehrai informed the tourists that the large numbers of tourists come to Pakistan from Japan. Chief Priests and hundreds of monks from the temples of Nara city of Japan came to Gandhara on a pilgrimage in the past.
They visited the stupas and monasteries in Gandhara and performed their religious rituals at the sites. Professor Sehrai hoped that after organising successful Gandhara celebrations twice by the Ministry of Tourism, Government of Pakistan, there would be a big flood of the tourists from the Buddhist countries in the near future which will further cement the political and cultural relations of the two countries. The group also visited Peshawar Museum, which has the most extensive collection of Gandhara art in the world.