Haji Sahib of Turangzai

Haji Sahib of Turangzai, Picture Credits: Dr. Lateef Yad. 

Inqilab news from 1945 about the bombing of Waziristan by British planes

The Ancient wonder of world : Kanishka Supta of Peshawar

In King’s Kanishka later days, when he had become a fervent Buddhist, he created a great relic tower – probably just outside the Ganj gate of Peshawar at Shahji ki Dheri.- with super structure of carved wood rising in thirteen storeys to a height of 400 feet , and surmounted by an iron pinnacle. Vincent Smith tell us how it was visited by Sung-Yan, a Chinese pilgrim, at the beginning of sixth century, by which time it had thrice been destroyed by fire and as often rebuilt by pious kings. A monastery of exceptional magnificence was still flourishing here as a place of Buddhist education  when it was visited by Vera Deva , an eminent Buddhist scholar. [1]. Hiuen Tsang (Xuan Zang) called it the “tallest architectural building” in this part of Asia.

A French archaeologist Alfred Foucher, who was a professor at University of Paris, visited Peshawar towards the end of 19th century, and noticed two mounds southeast of Peshawaroutside the Walled City. He attempted to relate them to Hiuen Tsang's description of the place.

In 1908, D. Brainerd Spooner, an American archaeologist working for the British Archaeological Survey of India and the first curator of Peshawar Museum, undertook excavation work at a site then known as Shahji Ki Dheri (Shahji's Mound, since it was privately owned by a Syed family).

Finding ruins of a stupa and monastery, he was able to confirm Foucher's hypothesis in the light of Chinese pilgrims' accounts.

In March 1909, when digging had reached the centre of the base of stupa, Mr Spooner made a sensational discovery that stirred the archaeological world. A relic casket in gilt-bronze was recovered containing Buddha's bone fragments and ashes.

The casket was inscribed with Emperor Kanishka's name and figure. The British Government later gifted the Buddha's relics to Burma where they are enshrined in the main pagoda at Mandalay. The bronze casket is on display in Peshawar Museum, while its replica is kept in the British Museum.

Subsequent excavation work yielded priceless Gandharan statues and other objects which are on display in museums around the world. When excavation work stopped the significance of the area was forgotten.[2]

References:

1-Sir Olaf Careo, The Pathans, p-74

2-http://www.dawn.com/news/654313/long-discovered-buddhist-site-brought-to-light

Peshawar of the Kushans

It was under the Kushans that Peshawar attained the dignity of an imperial capital .The great Kushan King Kanishka chose Gandhara, with its capital Peshawar , as the nodal point of his empire , the state which he ruled has came to be known as the kingdom of Gandhara.. Under his leadership Gandhara became the centre of an important civilization specially as regards art , the name has came to be used in designation of significant art forms which which spread outward from Peshawar to many other parts of the Asia. It was because under Kansikha that the Chinese pilgrims , Fa-Hein and Haien-Tsang, later made it one of the bournes of their pilgrimage. Outside of the Ganj gate of the modern Peshawar city , remarkable relic casket of Kanishka was discovered in 1909, now deposited in Peshawar museum. [1].

In King’s Kanishka later days, when he had become a fervent Buddhist, he created a great relic tower – probably just outside the Ganj gate of Peshawar at Shahji ki Dheri.- with super structure of carved wood rising in thirteen storeys to a height of 400 feet , and surmounted by an iron pinnacle. Vincent Smith tell us how it was visited by Sung-Yan, a Chinese pilgrim, at the beginning of sixth century, by which time it had thrice been destroyed by fire and as often rebuilt by pious kings. A monastery of exceptional magnificence was still flourishing here as a place of Buddhist education  when it was visited by Vera Deva , an eminent Buddhist scholar. [2]

1899 engraving showing the remnants of the Kanishka Stupa in Shah-Ji-Ki-Dheri.

The inscribed Kanishka Casket found at the site of the Kanishka Stupa and containing relics of the Buddha, now in Peshawar Museum, Pakistan, while the relics are in Mandalay, Burma.

This picture is of the ruby and gold relic casket holding a crystal reliquary with three fragments of bone, believed to be relics of Gautama Buddha, buried by the Kushan Emperor Kanishka in the 2nd century A.D. at his stupa in Peshawar (now in Pakistan) from where they were sent by the British for safekeeping to Mandalay, Burma in 1910. To the left of the ruby and gold casket is a miniature golden stupa in which the relics were transported to Mandalay

References

1-The Pathans, p-74

2- The Pathans, p-75

Ethnic composition of Pakistan army ; percentage of Pashtuns in it

It is often claimed that Pashtuns are over-represented in Pakistan army, that they are around 40% of the army. Others say they are 21% or 25%. The fact of the matter is Pashtuns are neither over-represented in Pakistan army nor under-represented. In 2007 , ISPR (the Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) Directorate, the official mouthpiece of the Army) released "information brief" in which they gave the information about ethnic composition of Pakistan army. According to it Pashtuns constituted 13.65% of the Army in 2001. The representation was increased and in 2007 they were 14.18 % of the army and they were planning to increase it up to 14.5% by 2011.

Full "Information Brief" of ISPR can be read here ;  https://www.slideshare.net/trainedstriker/information-brief-by-ispr-xeric?

Read also the DAWN news report about it>     Punjab’s dominance in army being reduced: ISPR