Peshawar: The Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa government has allocated PKR 30 million for an archaeological survey of the erstwhile tribal belt – a news source reported.
The government sanctioned the funds during a high-level meeting. Officials have anticipated the discovery of ancient sites in the region ever since FATA’s merger with KP.
Parliament had last year passed a bill that resulted in the merger of FATA with KP. Now, several pre-historic sites in the former tribal districts are open for archaeological survey.
Dr Abdul Samad, director of archaeology and museums, said that these sites remained hidden for several hundreds of years. He added that even British experts were unable to explore these areas due to security reasons.
This is the first time that the entire tribal belt comprised of the Kurram, Mohmand, Bajaur, North Waziristan and South Waziristan districts will be surveyed.
On a related note, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa has at least 6,000 documented museums, sites and monuments.
