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Afghan Taliban Send Mixed Messages On Statues
KABUL, March 3 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - As Muslims scholars Friday condemned Taliban threats to destroy all ancient statues in the country, a hint of hope emerged Saturday that Afghanistan's priceless heritage could be saved even as Taliban officials insisted nothing could stop their mission.
Disregarding a wave of international protest, including those from respected Islamic scholar Sheikh Youssif al-Qaradawi, Taliban Minister of Information and Culture Mawlawi Qudratullah Jamal said two thirds of the statues had been smashed and "work" was continuing on the two famous Buddha figures in central Bamiyan province.
"The process is being carried out both by gunpowder and spades and hammers. Work is underway for the destruction of the all the Bamiyan statues," he said, adding that it would be complete within four days.
Already an international pariah recognized by only three countries, the Taliban militia have been condemned by governments and religious leaders around the world for their move to destroy so-called "false idols."
The Bamiyan Buddhas, built between the second and fifth centuries AD, stand 50 meters (165 feet) and 34.5 meters tall. The Taliban blew the head off the smaller one in 1998 after they captured the province.
"It is not a big issue. The statues are objects only made of mud or stone," Jamal said, stressing that he had received no update on how much of the world's tallest standing Buddha at Bamiyan had been reduced to rubble.
"They will be totally destroyed. It is easier to destroy than to build. The order has been given to destroy them altogether including their hands, heads and legs."
He qualified earlier claims from Taliban officials that the statues, carved into a massive sandstone cliff, were being attacked with tanks and rockets.
"They do not [need] much rockets and tank shells. They are being destroyed with the use of some gunpowder," the minister said.
Taliban leader Mulla Mohammad Omar on Monday issued what officials said was a decree ordering the total annihilation of Afghanistan's statues to stop idolatry.
Special representative of the U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Pierre Lafrance, who was dispatched on an emergency mission from Europe on Friday, said he saw a "faint glimpse of hope" after a meeting with the Taliban ambassador in Pakistan.
Lafrance, a former French ambassador to Iran and Pakistan, said, "my interlocutors this morning told me the destruction has not started and no real order for this destruction had been delivered."
"We are not sure that a real decree has been issued. Many people [Afghan and Pakistani officials] say it was not a decree, it was just a statement - at least they wonder. There's a faint glimpse of hope," he said.
LaFrance also said he thought Islamic countries held the key to stopping the destruction by exerting their moral authority.
On Sunday he was expected to leave for the southern Taliban stronghold of Kandahar for talks with Omar, but he said so far only Foreign Minister Wakil Ahmed Mutawakel was available.
He also plans to visit Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates - the two other countries along with Pakistan to recognize the Taliban rulers.
Jamal said that apart from these three countries the world had no right to complain about the destruction.
"The implementation of the decree will not be delayed because of this [international uproar]," he said, adding that the world community "was not kind" to the Afghan people before.
Conservative Islamic party leaders in Pakistan who have close ties with the Taliban, offering a probable reason for the Taliban's actions Friday, said the decision to destroy part of the world's cultural heritage could have been motivated by "frustration" with the international community.
"This is nothing but frustration from Taliban against the West," Jamaat-i-Islami party deputy chief Ghafoor Ahmed said. "The world is crying for statues but remained silent over the humanitarian crisis in that country."
Pakistan has issued two protests and UNESCO's Arab Group, comprising all 22 members of the Arab League including Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, has described the move as "savage".
"The Arab Group of UNESCO condemns these savage acts and notes that successive Islamic governments in Afghanistan have preserved these masterpieces for 14 centuries," it said Friday.
Qatar, as current president of the Organization of the Islamic Conference, urged the Taliban Saturday to abandon its campaign of destruction.
"Historical relics, regardless of where they are located, are part of the cultural heritage of the whole of humanity, and they must be preserved," said a foreign ministry spokesman.
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