Taleban dismiss statue outcry

The Taleban have ignored international protests

Afghanistan's ruling Taleban have dismissed an international outcry over an order to destroy the country's statues, including priceless archaeological treasures.

The edict by the hardline Islamic militia has drawn protests from historical, cultural and religious groups around the world.

All we are breaking are stones

Taleban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar

Taleban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar gave the order on Monday, declaring the statues were insulting to Islam and should be destroyed.

The ultra-conservative Taleban believe depiction of any human figure is blasphemous.

Blasphemy

"All we are breaking are stones," Mullah Omar was quoted as saying by the Pakistan-based Afghan Islamic Press.

"According to Islam, I don't worry about anything. My job is the implementation of Islamic order," he said.

Bamiyan's tall Buddha angers the Taleban

The figures marked for destruction include two massive ancient Buddhas carved into a cliff face in the central town of Bamiyan.

Afghanistan was a Buddhist centre before the arrival of Islam in the ninth century.

But some mullahs believe, mistakenly, that Buddhists worship the Buddha and that the statues are therefore idols.

'Tragedy'

The country's museums contain numerous Buddhas and other figures of priceless historical value.

There are also a number of Hindu shrines in Bakhtiar province.

"It is a great loss, a tragedy for the Afghan people and for the world," said Italy's ambassador to Pakistan, Angelo Gabriele de Ceglie.

Mr de Ceglie was in Kabul representing an Italian-funded organization dedicated to preserving what is left of Afghanistan's rich past.

Kabul museum contains priceless Buddha statues

The head of one of the two Bamiyan Buddhas was blown off during the Taleban's capture of the city in 1998.

The other statue, at 53 metres, is the world's tallest standing Buddha.

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation, Unesco, has appealed to the Taleban to preserve works of art.

Buddhist associations in Japan and Sri Lanka also joined the chorus of protest.

"Once you destroy something, you can never get it back," said All Japan Buddhist Association secretary general Kijo Nishimura.

"We have an important responsibility to leave these statues to our descendants," he said.

Islamic order

But the Taleban remain unmoved.

The militia's Radio Shariat said the ministry of information and culture along with the religious police would destroy the statues.

Until now, the Taleban have said statues could be preserved, as long as they were not the objects of worship.

"The breaking of the statues is an Islamic order and I have given this decision in the light of a fatwa of the ulema [clerics] and the supreme court of Afghanistan," Mullah Omar said.

Two weeks ago, the movement denied reports circulating in Kabul that more than a dozen non-Islamic artefacts in the National Museum, including a priceless figure of the Buddha, had been destroyed.