OWN CORRESPONDENT, Kabul | Saturday
AFGHANISTANS opposition said on Friday the ruling Taliban have destroyed the two ancient Bamiyan Buddha statues in central Afghanistan, despite worldwide pleas to save them.
Mohammad Ashraf Nadeem, a representative for the opposition led by commander Ahmad Shah Masood, said “the Taliban dynamited both of the statues and they are completely gone”.
There was no immediate comment from the Taliban nor was there any independent confirmation of the latest opposition report.
“Basically, the destruction operation started on Thursday afternoon and our reports, which are accurate, say that both of them have been blown up by explosives and gun powder,” Nadeem said by satellite phone from Daraye Souf to the north of Bamiyan.
The two Buddhas in the central province of Bamiyan tower 53m and 38m high and were hewn out of sandstone cliffs almost 2_000 years ago.
Earlier, the Pakistan-based Afghan news service, Afghan Islamic Press (AIP), reported on Friday that the purist Islamic Taliban used a “large explosive” on Thursday to destroy the “top quarter” of the tallest statue.
“Informed sources told AIP that the Taliban again started the demolition of the statues on Thursday and by using a large explosive destroyed the upper part of the 53m statue.
“The sources said that efforts were being made on Friday to destroy the remaining part of the tallest statue.”
The Taliban had vowed to destroy the Buddhas sparking international condemnation, but witnesses said the campaign had been put on hold for the Muslim feast of Eid al-Adha. The feast ended on Thursday.
AIP said the lower portion of the statue had been destroyed “previously” and only the middle section remained. It did not elaborate.
A picture of the taller statue taken in 1997 shows the face already erased, chipped away over the centuries by Islamic rulers. Islam arrived in the country in the ninth century, ending centuries of Buddhist rule.
Opposition officials said the Taliban resumed destruction of the Buddhas on Thursday.
“They are using tanks, artillery, shells and also explosive devices for knocking them down completely,” Nadeem said.
“The Taliban have allowed residents to watch the event as well,” he added.
AIP said there was no immediate comment from the Taliban, who are under intense international pressure to spare Afghanistan’s best-known archaeological treasures.
Despite the international outcry, Taliban leaders had insisted that the policy of demolishing all statues – considered un-Islamic – would not be reversed. – Reuters
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