Vandalising a sacred heritage

The destruction of the Bamiyan Buddhas was a deliberate act of vandalism by the Taliban to provoke the international community, says B. MURALIDHAR REDDY.

THE TALIBAN is back in the news. It threatened to destroy all statues in Afghanistan including the famous Bamiyan Buddhas. And, despite worldwide protests, it did.

`Operation history demolition' began on Thursday following a decree by the Taliban supremo, Mullah Mohammad Omar, last Monday. The order declared the statues, including the world's tallest standing Buddha, as insulting to Islam. This logic is a reflection of the bigotry and medieval mindset of the Taliban. The whole world, including Pakistan, tried in vain to impress upon the zealots that the decree turns the spirit of tolerance enjoined upon by Islam on its head.

``Because God is one God and these statues are there to be worshipped and that is wrong. They should be destroyed so that they are not worshipped now or in the future,'' read the decree.

This is not the first time the Taliban has shaken the conscience of the world. There have been decrees galore in the past, particularly related to women, that disturbed the world community. Remember the punishment meted out to a football team from Pakistan. The players were sent back with their heads shaven for wearing shorts - supposedly un-Islamic conduct. But the latest decree clearly takes the cake.

It was a deliberate and calculated act of vandalism by the Taliban to provoke the international community. Perhaps it was intended to convey to the world the `nuisance value' of the regime that claims to control 95 per cent of Afghanistan. May be it was the Taliban's revenge for the additional sanctions imposed by the United Nations Security Council. And what a revenge!

The timing seems to suggest that the Taliban wanted to send out a clear signal of its utter contempt for world opinion. The decree came when an international delegation was in Kabul seeking assurances about the preservation of Afghanistan's heritage. The delegation, consisting of the Italian and Greek Ambassadors based in Islamabad and members of the Islamabad-based Society for the Preservation of Afghanistan's Cultural Heritage, had gone there in the wake of reports in the press that priceless artifacts in the Kabul museum faced serious threat of ruin. Much of the museum suffered in the civil war in Afghanistan after the Soviets beat a retreat. Archaeologists were concerned over reports that many of the artifacts were stolen and sold in the open market.

The delegation was assured by the Taliban Information and Culture Minister, Qudratullah Jalam, that the reports about the state of the Kabul museum were baseless propaganda. And then came the bombshell from Mullah Omar. The most famous are the two ancient Buddha statues carved into a sandstone mountain in central Bamiyan province. They stand 175 and 114 feet tall and date back to the second century A.D.

Passionate appeals from all over the world to spare them had no impact on the Taliban. The condemnation of the decree and the request made by the United Nations Secretary, Mr. Kofi Annan, only evoked a typical response from the Taliban Foreign Minister, Mr. Muttawakil. ``You who have lived in Afghanistan, have you ever seen any decision of the Islamic Emirate reversed?''

The diplomatic community in Islamabad led by Sri Lanka made frantic efforts to prevail upon the Taliban to re-think. First the diplomats explored the option of taking up the matter with the military regime in Pakistan in the hope that it would persuade Kabul to respect the international sentiment. When Islamabad threw up its hands, some directly approached the Afghanistan mission despite the fact that they have no diplomatic relations with the Taliban. Not only did the Taliban Ambassador defend the decree of Mullah Omar as irreversible but he also wondered why destruction of mere `statues' made of stone should be a matter of such breast-beating.The Taliban Ambassador reportedly asked the diplomats why such passion was missing in the international community over the deaths of innocent people in Afghanistan on account of sanctions and drought.

Indeed a valid question. But does not the same logic hold good for the Taliban regime. The very fact that its leadership is busy in issuing decrees to destroy statues at a juncture when millions of people are suffering for want of basic necessities speaks volumes for its priorities.

The whole episode also brings into sharp focus the debate on the merits of the policy of isolation of the Taliban regime. Have the sanctions helped in taming the Taliban? Or have they only made it dig in? Is there a point in Pakistan's contention that ``engagement rather than isolation'' is the best way to deal with a regime that by hook or by crook controls 95 per cent of Afghanistan? There are no easy answers.

THE TALIBAN is back in the news. It threatened to destroy all statues in Afghanistan including the famous Bamiyan Buddhas. And, despite worldwide protests, it did.

`Operation history demolition' began on Thursday following a decree by the Taliban supremo, Mullah Mohammad Omar, last Monday. The order declared the statues, including the world's tallest standing Buddha, as insulting to Islam. This logic is a reflection of the bigotry and medieval mindset of the Taliban. The whole world, including Pakistan, tried in vain to impress upon the zealots that the decree turns the spirit of tolerance enjoined upon by Islam on its head.

``Because God is one God and these statues are there to be worshipped and that is wrong. They should be destroyed so that they are not worshipped now or in the future,'' read the decree.

This is not the first time the Taliban has shaken the conscience of the world. There have been decrees galore in the past, particularly related to women, that disturbed the world community. Remember the punishment meted out to a football team from Pakistan. The players were sent back with their heads shaven for wearing shorts - supposedly un-Islamic conduct. But the latest decree clearly takes the cake.

It was a deliberate and calculated act of vandalism by the Taliban to provoke the international community. Perhaps it was intended to convey to the world the `nuisance value' of the regime that claims to control 95 per cent of Afghanistan. May be it was the Taliban's revenge for the additional sanctions imposed by the United Nations Security Council. And what a revenge!

The timing seems to suggest that the Taliban wanted to send out a clear signal of its utter contempt for world opinion. The decree came when an international delegation was in Kabul seeking assurances about the preservation of Afghanistan's heritage. The delegation, consisting of the Italian and Greek Ambassadors based in Islamabad and members of the Islamabad-based Society for the Preservation of Afghanistan's Cultural Heritage, had gone there in the wake of reports in the press that priceless artifacts in the Kabul museum faced serious threat of ruin. Much of the museum suffered in the civil war in Afghanistan after the Soviets beat a retreat. Archaeologists were concerned over reports that many of the artifacts were stolen and sold in the open market.

The delegation was assured by the Taliban Information and Culture Minister, Qudratullah Jalam, that the reports about the state of the Kabul museum were baseless propaganda. And then came the bombshell from Mullah Omar. The most famous are the two ancient Buddha statues carved into a sandstone mountain in central Bamiyan province. They stand 175 and 114 feet tall and date back to the second century A.D.

Passionate appeals from all over the world to spare them had no impact on the Taliban. The condemnation of the decree and the request made by the United Nations Secretary, Mr. Kofi Annan, only evoked a typical response from the Taliban Foreign Minister, Mr. Muttawakil. ``You who have lived in Afghanistan, have you ever seen any decision of the Islamic Emirate reversed?''

The diplomatic community in Islamabad led by Sri Lanka made frantic efforts to prevail upon the Taliban to re-think. First the diplomats explored the option of taking up the matter with the military regime in Pakistan in the hope that it would persuade Kabul to respect the international sentiment. When Islamabad threw up its hands, some directly approached the Afghanistan mission despite the fact that they have no diplomatic relations with the Taliban. Not only did the Taliban Ambassador defend the decree of Mullah Omar as irreversible but he also wondered why destruction of mere `statues' made of stone should be a matter of such breast-beating.The Taliban Ambassador reportedly asked the diplomats why such passion was missing in the international community over the deaths of innocent people in Afghanistan on account of sanctions and drought.

Indeed a valid question. But does not the same logic hold good for the Taliban regime. The very fact that its leadership is busy in issuing decrees to destroy statues at a juncture when millions of people are suffering for want of basic necessities speaks volumes for its priorities.

The whole episode also brings into sharp focus the debate on the merits of the policy of isolation of the Taliban regime. Have the sanctions helped in taming the Taliban? Or have they only made it dig in? Is there a point in Pakistan's contention that ``engagement rather than isolation'' is the best way to deal with a regime that by hook or by crook controls 95 per cent of Afghanistan? There are no easy answers.

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