Buddhist monks pray at Peshawar museum for world peace

Peshawar: An eight-member delegation of Buddhist monks from South Korea today visited the Peshawar museum and performed rituals for world peace and religious harmony in Pakistan.

Bakht Mohammad, the Peshawar museum in-charge welcomed the visiting monks, and informed them about the various Buddhist sculptures and other Gandhara era manuscripts, preserved at the museum.

Every year, monks from different countries visits Gandhara region, particularly in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

The monks usually visit archaeological sites, Julian, (Taxila region), Takh bhai, Jamal Garhi, But Khada in Swat, Mohammad said.

He also said the visit would help promote religious and archaeological tourism, besides development of soft image of terrorism-hit Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

"The region is political, culturally and religiously very rich. We always think about the Buddhist's archaeological remains, especially in this part of the world," Han Sang Beon a monk said.

The monks said that they prayed to revive those times when the Buddhism was flourishing and there was peace and stability all around the world.

It was a heart touching times when I first visited the stupas and statues, another monk said. He said they have offered special prayers at the ancient's sites and prayed for stability and religious harmony in Pakistan.

In the Peshawar museum, there are a total of 50,000 Ghandharian sculpture data back from the 1st century AD to 7th century AD, said Bakht Mohammad.

He also briefed the delegation about the museum and the historical importance of Peshawar valley.