Author: Agence France Presse
Publication: The Indian Express,
Pune
Date: March 6, 2001
Taliban chief Mulla Mohammad Omar
today termed as "drama" the global outcry over the demolition of Buddha
relics in Afghanistan and urged the Muslim world to support his decision
and unite behind his vision of Islam.
Using Eid-ul-Adha festival, the
reclusive war veteran and "Islamic scholar" reacted for the first time
to the international outrage over the demolition drive and declared that
the annihilation of Buddhist statues in Afghanistan would proceed despite
vehement international condemnation and protests from Islamic states.
"Now that we are destroying false
idols, the world has made a drama out of this. The Muslim of the world,
particularly Afghan Muslim, should use their common sense," the Taliban
militia's radio Shariat quoted him as saying.
"I would like to ask you, do you
prefer to be called statue-destroyers or statue-sellers?"
He said the statues, including the
giant ancient Buddhas in the central province of Bamiyan, were only "1
per cent" of Afghanistan's historical heritage.
Omar last week ordered his followers
to destroy all statues in Afghanistan, including the country's precious
pre-Islamic figures, to prevent idolatry m line with a fatwa (religious
decree) from local clerics.
His comments at the start of the
three-day Islamic holiday today came a day after UNESCO special envoy Peirre
Lafrance apparently failed to persuade the Afghan leadership to reverse
their decision.
PTI adds from Islamabad: Taliban
has rejected Iran's offer to buy the Buddha statues currently being destroyed
by the militia. Taliban's Foreign Minister Wakil Ahmad Muttawakil told
the Pakistani newspaper The News that Foreign Minister Behrami had phoned
him yesterday to make an offer to buy the statues or keep them in safe
custody. Muttawakil said he castigated Iran for the offer.
"I told them that the statutes are
not for sale. Besides, Afghanistan as an Islamic country would not like
any other Muslim country to keep in safe custody what we Afghans consider
un-Islamic and do not want to retain it ourselves. I said Afghanistan had
some museums and if we wanted we could have kept them in safe custody there;"
Muttawakil said.
Muttawakil, who spoke to Pakistani
news agency NNI over phone, said. "I told Lafrance that it is the decision
by ulema and the country's apex court and will not he withdrawn."
Asked if the envoy sounded any warning
for demolition of the statues, Muttawakil said: "We do not care about it."
He said the religious decree is
Afghanistan's internal problem and the world should not make such hue and
cry over it.
