NEW YORK – Sri Lanka yesterday called on the world to safeguard the Buddhist heritage of Afghanistan under the Taliban, which provoked outrage by destroying giant Buddha statues when the group was last in power.
“I request the United Nations and the international community to ensure the protection of the Buddhist heritage of Afghanistan,” Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa told the global body’s annual summit.
Buddhism, the majority religion in Sri Lanka, once flourished in Afghanistan, symbolised by the towering Buddha statues carved into the cliffs of Bamiyan that survived for 1,500 years.
The Taliban in March 2001 spent weeks blowing up the statues with dynamite and artillery, defying international appeals out of religious fervour as it pointed to Islam’s ban on idolatry.
Returning to power as United States troops departed after 20 years, the Taliban has tried to project a more moderate image. But, residents said the triumphant group again blew up a statue in Bamiyan that honoured a leader of the Hazara, a minority persecuted by the hard-line Sunni Islamists.
The Bamiyan Valley still contains a network of caves housing temples, monasteries and Buddhist paintings. – AFP, September 23, 2021
