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Minaret of Jam, the world's second tallest
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KABUL,
November 3 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Afghanistan faces a race
against time to save its archaeological treasures, experts have warned,
as rampant theft and smuggling of valuable artifacts continues unabated
despite the realization of peace.
Decades
of war have devastated the heritage of a country which has been the
crossroads and cradle of numerous civilizations, said Agence
France-Presse (AFP) Sunday, November 3.
Now
"mafia-style" gangs are moving to cash in on an international
market hungry for Afghan relics.
"This
is my worst problem," Information and Culture Minister Makhdoom
Raheen told AFP during a tour of an archaeological excavation in Kabul.
"Unfortunately,
in each Afghan province there are tens of historical sites, in some
there are hundreds. It is hard to keep control over them.
"With
poverty everywhere worsened by the effects of quarter of a century of
war, it is very difficult."
Afghanistan's
rich cultural legacy has suffered heavily under the years of fighting
between rival factions and against Soviet invaders.
Many
sites dating back to prehistoric times, charting the presence of
Alexander the Great and the ebb and flow of Buddhism, Islam, Mongols,
Aryans and Moghuls, have been destroyed or looted.
Just
months before the fall of the Taliban regime late last year under a
U.S.-led military campaign, it incurred international outrage by
rocketing ancient Buddha statues in the central province of Bamiyan.
Now,
according to Raheen, well-equipped teams of smugglers encounter little
opposition as they target historical sites, plundering them of their
antiquities before handing them over to organized smuggling gangs.
He
said the government, which has yet to allocate any funds for the
protection of its heritages sites, was virtually powerless to act.
"We
are trying our best, but when rich people from outside the country pay a
good amount to poor villagers, they are going to take it."
Afghanistan
Director of Archaeology Abdul Wasay Ferozi said the recent arrests of
several smugglers had done little to curb the problem, warning that many
prominent regional warlords were complicit in the archaeological
plunder.
"Even
around the Kabul area we are receiving many reports of illegal
excavations.
"In
the western district of Paghman alone, more than four of five areas have
been illegally dug by commanders.
"These
men have trucks, they have equipment and they have guns.
"We
have nothing against this mafia," he told AFP, shortly before
departing for France to seek assistance for Afghanistan's archeological
programs.
"Nobody
has given us a budget to do anything and without money there is nothing
we can do and Afghanistan will slowly lose all its treasures."
Ferozi
said most of the antiquities end up in Pakistan, either in bazaars in
the northwestern frontier town of Peshawar or in the homes of wealthy
collectors.
Many
also find their way overseas.
He
also blamed a French archaeological survey published in the 1970s, which
he said was now viewed as a shopping list for smugglers.
"This
should never have been published. These people now know exactly what is
on offer and exactly where to find it."
According
to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural
Organization's (UNESCO) Afghanistan program specialist Louise
Haxthausen, the Afghan government currently has no legal leverage to
retrieve its treasures.
The
country has yet to sign an international convention on trade in stolen
artifacts, and even when it does this will not be retroactive, she told
AFP.
"At
the moment, it is only moral pressure which can help Afghanistan get
back what belongs to it."
According
to Haxthausen, UNESCO, which this year added Afghanistan's minaret of
Jam -- the world's second tallest, situated on the frontier of western
Ghor and Herat provinces -- to its list of protected world heritage
sites, is trying to reverse the situation.
The
Minaret of Jam rises 65 meters above the floor of a narrow valley in
west-central Afghanistan.
The
tower, with its elaborate lace-like brickwork, is the world’s second
tallest minaret, and is of considerable importance to the history of
Islamic civilization and architecture.
The
Minaret of Jam was built in 1194 by Sultan Ghiyath al-din Mohammed Ibn
Sam (1163-1202) in the province of Ghur.
It
is made of fired brick and covered with geometric and floral motifs and
Kufic inscriptions, using a technique developed in Bukhara in the 10th
century.
The
richness of the decoration marks the high point of an artistic tradition
that lasted a few decades longer until the fall of the Ghurid Dynasty in
the early 13th century.
The
Minaret of Jam was the inspiration for New Delhi’s Qutb Minar minaret,
which is the tallest in the world.
Built
on the south bank of the Hari-rud River, some 1,900 meters above
sea-level, the Minaret of Jam was forgotten for centuries before being
rediscovered on August 18, 1957 by an expedition led by Ahmed Ali
Kohzad, president of the Afghan Historical Society, and French
archaeologist André Maricq.
The
minaret’s beauty is not its only attraction. It is also a very
important key to understanding the history of the Ghurid Dynasty and
medieval Islam, and, in this regard much of its mystery has yet to be
unveiled. Historians and archaeologists have wondered for decades about
its initial purpose. Was it part of a mosque, even though there is no
sign of one? Or some kind of “victory tower” to glorify the Ghurids,
who had built an empire and conquered Delhi? Was it, indeed, the site of
Firuzkoh, the Ghurid capital destroyed by the Mongols and which has
never been found?
"We
are trying to raise some public awareness.
"We
have to show the local population that they have a responsibility to
prevent looting and illicit traffic, to show to what extent it really
does not benefit them in the long term.
"We
try to show that it is illicit and that the government has committed
itself to strengthen protection and overcome the impunity of people
involved."
