Lampooning Mohamed, Bombing Buddha

[Guest guest]

Pakistan-based Afghan Islamic Press (AIP), "I issued the order to destroy all

statues in Afghanistan including the country's rich pre-Islamic statues in line

with Islamic beliefs. According to Islam, I don't worry about anything. My job

is the implementation of Islamic order. The breaking of statues is an Islamic

order and I have given this decision in the light of a fatwa of the ulema

(clerics) and the supreme court of Afghanistan. Islamic law is the only law

acceptable to me. Only Allah – the Almighty deserves to be worshipped not

anyone or anything else. Afghan history is secondary to the history of Islam.

Whoever thinks this is harmful to the history of Afghanistan I tell them they

must first see the history of Islam. Some people believe in these statues and

pray to them. If people say these are not our beliefs but only part of the

history of Afghanistan then all we are breaking are stones. The statues are

insulting to Islam. Because God is one God, and these statues are there

to be worshipped and that is wrong now or in the future. " The Taliban Radio

Shariat said the Ministry of Information and Culture and Religious Police would

carry out the demolition. The decree was issued at a time when a team of western

diplomats visited Afghan capital Kabul to check the reports that Taliban

hardliners have vandalized ancient statues in the national museum. The

Afghanistan's museums contain a treasure-trove of Buddhist-era artifacts.

Museums around the country host important Buddhist statues and other priceless

statues. The Kabul museum alone housed an estimated 6,000 statues. It is

believed most of them have been destroyed. The Taliban have refused to allow

anyone inside the Kabul museum -- war-ravaged building. Most of the museums

have been destroyed in the bitter fighting between rival factions during the

period of 1992 to 1996. The team comprising the Pakistan-based envoys of

Greece, Italy and France left Kabul on Tuesday, February 27, 2001 saying they

were "very sad." Afghanistan was a Buddhist center before

Islamic conquerors invaded it around 1,400 years ago. Most of Buddha statues

are in Bamiyan about 180 km west of Kabul. It has inherited the world's tallest

standing Buddha statue of 53 meters high and the second tallest of 37 meters

high. The two statues were carved into sandstone cliff in Afghanistan in the

fifth century. Accidentally or deliberately firing at those statues during the

last 20 years of ongoing civil war have heavily damaged those two statues. The

Taliban means movement of religious students seized Kabul in 1996, and since

then they have imposed a puritanical mix of Pasthun tribal and Sharia law in a

bid to create a true Mohammadean state of their thinking.

Only Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates recognize this regime.

It is neither the member of the United Nations nor of the Organization of the

Islamic Conference (OIC). World reactions to the demolition: Kotatsu Fuijita

-- professor emeritus of Buddhism at Hokkaido University in Tokyo said, " I

cannot believe the Taliban will destroy the big Buddhas. Even though the

statues are in Afghanistan, they are really world heritage now. I strongly

doubt the Taliban's understanding of cultural heritage." Kijo Nishimura --

Secretary General of All Japan Buddhist Association said, "The destruction of

Buddha statues must be avoided as much as possible under any circumstances.

Once you destroy something you can never get it back. We have an important

responsibility to leave these statues to our descendants." Pradap Pibulsonggram

-- spokesperson for the Foreign Ministry, Thailand said, " The loss of the

Bamiyan Buddhas would be a loss to humanity.

It is their loss too. One day when they resolve their problems they will want to

attract tourists. Bamiyan Buddha statues will help them if they keep." Ariya

Rubasinghe -- spokesperson for the Sri-Lankan Government said, "We have the

grave concern for the Taliban rulers' order to destroy a giant fifth century

Buddha that is said to be the tallest statue of its kind." Angelo Gabriele de

Ceglie -- Italy's ambassador to Pakistan said, "It is a great loss, a tragedy

for the Afghan people and for the world." De Ceglie was heading a delegation of

the Society for the Preservation of Afghan Culture and Heritage – a largely

Italian funded organization to try to preserve the remains of Afghanistan's

heritage ravaged by more than two decades of relentless war. Jaswant Singh --

Indian Foreign Minister addressing the parliament said, "The Taliban appears

bent for committing a grave wrong, indeed a sacrilege to humanity, to the

civilization and cultural inheritance of all

mankind. Even at this last stage, we would like to convey that the destruction

of these precious manifestations of the cultural heritage of humankind should

stop." He offered to arrange for the transfer of all the artifacts in question

to India where they would be kept safely and preserved for all mankind.

Kazuhiko Koshikawa – spokesperson for Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori, Japan said,

"The Japanese Government is deeply concerned over the destruction of all

statues in Afghanistan. Those statues are assets to all human beings. If they

were ruined, it would be an immeasurable loss. The Japanese government hopes

that Taliban will review such a decision and take appropriate measures." The

press release issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, His Majesty's

Government of Nepal on March 1, 2001 said, "It is a matter of deep concern for

the government and the people of Nepal that the two ancient Buddha statues in

the central Bamiyan province of Afghanistan have been already

partially damaged and disfigured. His Majesty's Government of Nepal is deeply

shocked by this development. His Majesty's Government of Nepal does consider

this development as unfortunate and condemns such reprehensible acts of the

Taliban Government of Afghanistan." Frances Vendrell – UN special envoy to

Afghanistan said, " I discussed the edict with the Taliban Foreign Minister in

Kabul on Thursday, March 1, 2001 but the minister said, "The Islamic Emirate

(Taliban) is not in the habit of rescinding their edicts." I told him that the

international community is baffled at the moment and it would create

international outrage if the edict were carried out. It is going to have

negative implication for the Taliban's image around the world." China's state

Xinhua news agency on Saturday, March 3, 2001 quoted a Buddhist Association of

China saying, "Chinese Buddhist circles are concerned about the decision which

deeply offends the feelings of Buddhists. We urge the Taliban to

halt this destructive act immediately." The United News of India quoted Atal

Behari Vajpayee – Prime Minister of India saying at a public rally in Punjab on

Sunday, March 4, 2001, "All nations including Muslim countries have condemned

the destruction of the ancient artifacts. A person having no respect for human

values is uncultured and can only carry out such a sensleless act. To show

respect for one's own religion is another matter but to disrespect and disgrace

another religion is an act of shame and I condemn it." The Swedish presidency of

the European Union in Stockholm on Sunday, March 4, 2001 said in a statement,

"It (destruction of ancient statues) is an act of cultural barbarism and

religious intolerance which will irreparably and irreversibly deprive

Afghanistan of a large part of its unique historical and cultural patrimony.

The EU strongly condemns this crime against the world's common cultural

heritage and deeply regrets that it has taken place in the name

of one of the world's important religions." Demolition: Qudratullah Jamal –

Minister for Information and Culture of the Taliban Government told AFP, "The

destruction of scores of pre-Islamic figures designed to stop the worshipping

of false idols has begun throughout the country on Thursday, March 1, 2001. The

work started about five hours ago but I do not know how much of it (the two

Bamiyan Buddhas) has been destroyed. It will be destroyed by every means. All

the statues are being destroyed. Taliban soldiers were at work in the Kabul

museum and elsewhere in the provinces of Ghazni, Herat, Jalalabad and

Kandahar." Militiamen started wrecking the almost 2,000-year-old Buddhist

masterpieces in the central province of Bamiyan including the world's tallest

standing Buddha after sunrise on Thursday, March 1, 2001. Taliban officials

said on Saturday, March 3, 2001 that they have destroyed most of the ancient

relics of their nation's pre-Islamic past including

parts of two towering statues of Buddha in less than a week. Mr. Jamal told AFP,

"Two thirds of all statues in Afghanistan have already been destroyed the

remaining will be destroyed in next two days. The head and legs of the Buddha

statues in Bamiyan were destroyed yesterday. Our soldiers are working hard to

demolish their remaining parts. They will come down soon. We are using

everything at our disposal to destroy them. The order to destroy the tallest

Buddha statue along with all other statues in Afghanistan came from Mulla

Mohammad Omar, Supreme Leader of Taliban on Monday, February 26, 2001. Efforts

to save the artifacts: Mr. Pierre Lafrance -- a special UNESCO envoy traveled

to Kandahar -- the southern Afghan city on Sunday, March 4, 2001 for meeting

with Taliban leaders and persuading them to stop the demolition of Buddha

statues. He failed to persuade the Taliban militia to stop the demolition of

the pre-Islamic cultural heritage. Foreign Minister

Wakil Ahmad Mutawakel said that he had detailed discussions with Mr. Lafrance in

Kandahar but could not see reasons for stopping the destruction. Mr. Lafrance

plans to visit Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates for persuading them to

put pressure on Taliban for stopping the demolition of Buddha statues. Mr

Lafrance thinks that the two Islamic countries hold a key to exerting moral

pressure on Taliban for stopping the destruction of the artifacts. The UN

warned Afghanistan's rulers of extremely serious consequences of destroying the

ancient statues. The New York Metropolitan Museum of Art offered to buy the

statues rather than see them destroyed. The Association of Art Museum Directors

representing 175 museums in the United States, Canada and Mexico, said it would

''stand by any effort'' to rescue the artifacts. On Sunday, March 4, 2001,

Qatar – current OIC (55 member Muslim body) president urged the Taliban to

abandon its campaign for destroying the ancient

statues stating, "Historical relics regardless of their locations are part of

the cultural heritage of the whole humanity, and they must be preserved." State

Department Spokesman Richard Boucher said that the United States on Monday,

March 05 reiterated its appeal for the Taliban to leave the statues alone for

future generations. He also said, "Afghanistan's ancient statues are an

important part of the world's cultural legacy and the cultural heritage of

Afghanistan." The French Foreign Ministry said on Monday, March 05, "We are

maintaining close contact with all those who are striving to prevent the

destruction of Afghanistan's pre-Islamic statues, in particular with the people

of the countries that have official relations with Kabul." Foreign Minister

Wakil Ahmad Mutawakel speaking from Kandahar said on Thursday, March 8, 2001,

"We have said that we would not spare pre-Islamic or post-Islamic Buddhist

artifacts. The Emirate (Taliban) has been established for

realization of Islamic Sharia (law). And we will implement the verdict. The

verdict calls for their destruction." The verdict refers to a ruling of a

Taliban court following advice from Afghan Ulema or religious scholars on the

issue. This statement came as Japan launched a new bid to save the statues and

a day after a UNESCO envoy said the irreplaceable relics had not yet been badly

damaged holding out hope that they might win a reprieve yet. A three-member

Japanese delegation arrived in Islamabad on Thursday, March 8, on the way to

Afghanistan in the latest bid to persuade the Taliban not to demolish the

statues in Bamiyan. UNESCO special envoy Pierre Lafrance said on Wednesday that

he would return to Afghanistan in this week in a second bid to persuade the

Taliban to spare the statues. AFP reports that militia official's claim that

Bamiyan Buddhas are being destroyed with everything possible from tanks to

dynamite but it is impossible to verify what exactly has

happened to those statues because the province is sealed to outsiders. On March

9, 2001, the UN General Assembly passed a resolution calling for stopping the

demolition of the two large Buddha statues in Bamiyan from among the ancient

artifacts the Taliban militia has been destroying. (Gorkhapatra March 11, 2001)

Egypt's top religious leader Mufti Sheikh Nasr Farid Wassel was traveling along

with the delegation of the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC), comprising

Qatar's Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Ahmed bin Abdullah al-Mahmud, OIC

official Ibrahim Bakr and two well-known Sunni clerics Sheikh Yusef al-Qaradawi

and Mohamed al-Rawi to Afghanistan on Saturday, March 10, 2001 to meet the

Taliban official and UNESCO representative Haytham al-Khayyat for trying to

dissuade the fundamentalist Taliban militia from destroying two of the world's

oldest Buddha statues. The trip came on the same day Taliban spokesman Abdul

Hai Mutmaen announced that "work" on the

statues was between 80 and 90 percent complete. Wassel condemned the order to

destroy the statues, and said, "From religious point of view the statues do not

have an effect on belief. Quran – Islamic holy book contains many references and

stories of past civilizations and monuments they left behind." UNESCO Director

General Koichiro Matsuura called Wednesday (March 7) on Egypt to intervene to

help save the statues – the tallest Buddhas in the world located in the Bamiyan

region of central Afghanistan. Afghan Taliban Foreign Minister Wakil Ahmad

Mutawakel rejected U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan's plea to stop destruction

of ancient Buddha statues emphasizing that the action was started after thorough

deliberations in light of the edict according to the Islamic law. Mutawakel

expressed these views in a press conference held at Afghan Embassy in Islamabad

after meeting with U. N. Secretary General Kofi Annan on Sunday, March 11, 2001.

Pakistan's Foreign

Minister Abdul Sattar accused the international community of doing too little

too late to save the historical treasures saying on Monday, March 12, 2001,

"The whole world community remained a passive spectator to the disaster… to the

irreparable damage to the world's cultural heritage." An official said in

Colombo on Sunday, March 18, Sri Lanka was seeking to buy the rubble and any

remains of the Bamiyan Buddha statues destroyed by Afghanistan's Taliban rulers

in a bid to rebuild them. Sri Lanka – the seat of Theravada Buddhism had earlier

offered to finance an international operation to save the two statues that dates

back more than 1,500 years. Taliban Supreme Leader Mulla Mohammad Omar ordered

on Friday, March 16 to slaughter 100 cows as a sacrifice for atoning the delays

in the destruction of the ancient statues in Bamiyan. Kabul's official media

however did not make it clear if Omar meant the delay since Islam came to

Afghanistan around 14 centuries ago or since

the Taliban took Kabul in 1996. The Radio Shariat reported in Kabul, " These

cows are to be slaughtered by the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (Taliban) for

the further glory of God, the Almighty's name and as an offering for the error

and the delay in the destruction of the statues." Conclusions: The world

opinions could not save the Buddha in large stones. However, Buddha will remain

everywhere people want to live in peace. Obviously Afghanistan is not the

appropriate place for Buddha to reside under the current war situation. Hence,

time has come for Buddha in those magnificent stones to leave Afghanistan for

some other places. Buddha was not for worshipping idols; so it does not make

any difference for Buddha if someone makes or breaks statues. In fact Buddha

did not believe in God but in peace. One of the Buddha's teaching is "nothing

is permanent in the universe. Everything is changing every minute." Those large

Buddhas in stones in Bamiyam have to

change at one time or another but it happened in the beginning of the third

millennium. Another teaching of Buddha is "you will enjoy the consequences of

your deeds. In other words if you do good things you will have good results if

you do bad things you will have bad results." Fanatics often do things without

taking into account of the results of their deeds. Hindu fanatics tore down the

Babri Masjid (mosque) in India in the last decade of the second millennium

causing the destruction of hundreds of Hindu temples in Pakistan and

Bangladesh. Muslim fanatics demolished the Buddhas in stones in Afghanistan in

the beginning of the third millennium without considering the spiritual and

physical results of such deeds. This may be the last bravery of Taliban in the

battle against humanity. Time will show the results of such bravery. (Sources:

The Rising Nepal of February 28, 2001 & of March 3, 4, 5, 7, 9, 12 13, & 19,

2001, Gorkhapatra March 11, 2001, The Kathmandu

Post of March 2, 2001) Wednesday, March 21, 2001. ************* Siddhi B.

Ranjitkar recorded these facts when the Taliban destroyed the huge Buddha

statues in Afghanistan in 2001.http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0602/S00132.htm

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