S Korean Buddhist delegation visits archaeological sites in Pak

A 45-member delegation of South Korean Buddhist monks on Friday visited the archaeological sites of Buddha era in Pakistan's Khyber Paktunkhwa province.

The delegation, which was accompanied by the officials of archaeology and museums department, visited Takht Bhai ruins in Mardan district.

Takht-i-Bahi is an Indo-Parthian archaeological site of an ancient Buddhist monastery.

During the visit, the delegation performed religious rituals and later expressed gratitude to the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government for preserving Buddha heritage sites.

They attended a reception arranged by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa's minister, Atif Khan, at his residence.

They were briefed about rich heritage sites of Buddhism situated in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

The delegation on Thursday also visited the holy Buddhist sites in Gilgit-Baltistan.

Every year a large number of tourists from Japan, China and Korea visit the region to perform rituals at their religious sites, Dawn newspaper reported.

The visit of the Korean Buddhist delegation comes a month after Pakistan said that it was considering an idea to establish a Buddha University as part of its efforts to increase tourism to historic religious places of the country's minorities.