Pakistan, Dec. 23 -- Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is pushing the federal government to return some 3,150 ancient Gandhara artefacts currently houses in museums in Islamabad, Lahore, Karachi and Taxila.

"If the federal government obliges, Taxila Museum, the National Museum of Pakistan in Karachi and the Lahore Fort Museum, will be left almost empty," former Lahore Museum director general Salimul Haq told Dawn .

Gandhara art makes up some of the oldest and most significant collections in all major museums, he said and was more important than artefacts from the Mughal and British periods.

"The statue of Fasting Siddharta alone is the most expensive ancient Gandhara article in Lahore Museum to give you one example," Mr Haq added.

Dr Fazal Dad Kakar...