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Muslim Nations Condemn Taliban Destruction Of Statues
ISLAMABAD, March 2 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - The destruction of statues by Afghanistan's Taliban, including two centuries-old giant stone Buddhas, has drawn fire from Muslim countries and groups around the world.
The Taliban militia said earlier that they had begun shelling ancient Buddha statues in the central province of Bamiyan with rockets, tank shells and even automatic rifles following earlier threats that they would destroy all statues in Afghanistan, including the world's tallest standing Buddha.
Neighboring Pakistan, the closest ally of the Taliban and one of only three countries that recognize the Taliban regime, was among the Islamic nations to denounce the Taliban decree against "false idols."
"Pakistan shares the concerns of the international community over the reported decision by the Afghan government to destroy some of the historical artifacts in Afghanistan," a foreign office spokesman said.
Pakistan attached great importance to the preservation of the world's cultural and religious heritage, the spokesman said Thursday.
"We appeal to the Afghan government to take measures to fully protect Afghanistan's historical monuments, sites and artifacts which are part of the world's heritage," he said.
The spokesman expressed hope the Taliban regime would "show the spirit of tolerance enjoined upon by Islam as well as respect for international sentiments in this regard."
Shiite Muslim Iran, which supports opposition forces battling the Sunni Muslim Taliban, was another leading voice in the Islamic world to condemn the Taliban.
"We condemn the destruction of statues of Buddha which are treasures of mankind just like the Taj Mahal or Imam Square" in Isfahan, Iran's historic monuments organization said in a statement.
"It is very strange that centuries after the Afghan people became Muslims, and received the strength of Islam ... certain people who claim to be religious accuse some of anathema and idolatry," it said.
The English-language Iran News slammed the Taliban edict and other decrees of the Afghan regime, which "issued under the name of Islam are in fact tarnishing the image of this sacred religion."
"Islam has never preached the destruction of objects that embody the belief and history of millions of people throughout the world," the paper said.
"Through their irrational acts, the Taliban are proving once again that they are not only against the history and culture of their own people, but they are also working hard to deny the Afghan people their future."
Iran supports the ousted Afghan government of Burhanuddin Rabbani, who was driven out of Kabul by the Taliban in 1996 but still clings to a toehold in the northeast of the country.
Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are the only three countries to have recognized the Taliban.
In Egypt, mufti Sheikh Nasr Farid Wassel, expressed astonishment at the Taliban's destruction of statues and called for the Taliban to "act soberly and weigh the opinions of experts without fanaticism or urgency."
The pre-Islamic statues, notably the two giant Buddhas in Afghanistan's Bamiyan province, "are only a transcription of history and have no negative impact on the faith of Muslims," Wassel said in an interview published Friday in the daily Al Hayat.
Comparing the Afghan statues to ancient Egypt's artifacts, he said their conservation was justified, "particularly because they bring economic advantages to an Islamic country through tourism."
In Malaysia, Chandra Muzaffar, a Muslim and president of a group called the International Movement for a Just World, said the Taliban seemed to have forgotten that Muslim rulers in the past had protected the rights of other religions.
"The hostility and antagonism towards Buddhism and other religions displayed by the Taliban reveals not only its ignorance of Islam but also its arrogance and bigotry," he said.
In addition, the Islamic Education, Science and Culture Organization (ISESCO), an Islamic cultural organization joined the international outcry against the Afghan government's decision to destroy ancient statues that it said are "part of humanity's heritage."
"These statues are not cult objects and there is nothing about them that can harm Islam," ISESCO said in a statement.
ISESCO also called on its member states to intervene quickly.
"The destruction of statues will harm the image of Islam," the statement said.
The Arab members of UNESCO also issued a joint statement Friday condemning the "savage acts" of the Taliban and urged "concrete action" from the international community.
The Arab Group in the U.N. cultural body includes all 22 members of the Arab League, including Saudi Arabia, one of only four countries to recognize and support the Taliban's Islamic regime in Kabul.
"The tragic and deplorable events in Afghanistan should inspire not just condemnation and reproof, but demand an international mobilization based around concrete action in order to end this unprecedented enterprise, which affects the priceless treasures of our universal heritage," the statement said.
"The Arab Group of UNESCO condemns these savage acts and notes that successive Islamic governments in Afghanistan have preserved these masterpieces for 14 centuries," it said.
"The Arab group considers that this barbaric attitude of the Taliban constitutes a grave assault on the dignity of man."
The Arab Group's statement came after the director-general of UNESCO, Koichiro Matsuura, said he had sent a special envoy to Afghanistan in a bid to persuade the Taliban authorities to stop the destruction, and said representatives from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Iran and Pakistan backed his call.
Conservative Islamic party leaders in Pakistan who have close ties with the Taliban, offering a probable reason for the Taliban's actions, said the decision to destroy part of the world's cultural heritage could have been motivated by "frustration" with the international community.
"This is nothing but frustration from Taliban against the West," Jamaat-i-Islami party deputy chief Ghafoor Ahmed said. "The world is crying for statues but remained silent over the humanitarian crisis in that country."
Taliban edict on the destruction of statues
Following is the official Taliban translation of an edict issued Monday by Afghanistan's ruling militia ordering the destruction of statues across the country:
"Based on the Istifta [seeking of legal advice] by the Emir of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan [Taliban chief Mulla Mohammad Omar] and the religious verdict of the country's religious scholars and of the supreme court, all the statues in different parts of the country should be broken.
"These statues have been left over as the non-believers' idols and they worshipped these statues.
"At the moment these statues are being respected and can turn into idols in the future while the real god is only God the Almighty and all untrue gods should be annihilated.
"Therefore the Emir of the Islamic Emirate has charged the ministry of fostering virtue and suppressing vice and the ministry of information and culture with the task of destroying, for the realization of the verdict of the religious scholars and the supreme court, all the statues so that nobody worships or respects them in future."
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