I left out a key element in my last entry about the Buddhas of Bamiyan, and that is that Laila visited the statutes after the Taliban destroyed them. In a very controversial sequence of events, the Taliban decided to blow up these exceedingly valuable and ancient relics of the past. But it would seem that the issue is much more than such cold-blooded destruction. At face value it is an act of pure religious intolerance and vandalism, but after reading more about the event I found opinions and statements that cannot be left out.
According to UNESCO Director Koichiro Matsuura, a meeting of ambassadors from the Organization of the Islamic conference was conducted regarding the Buddhas. All members protested saving the monuments, including the three nations that officially recognized the Taliban, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, and the United Arab Emirates. At this point I was wondering, it this a purely religious issue, or was it a reaction against the international community to want to destroy these monuments? I found out after more reading:
Taliban Ambassador Sayed Rahmataullah Hashemi said destruction was carried out after a Swedish monument expert proposed to restore the statute's heads, because the statues were in desperate need of repair. This was the Ambassador's explanation:
"When the Afghani head council asked them to provide the money
to feed the children instead of fixing the statutes they refused and
said, 'no the money is just for the statutes, not for the children.'"
Of course this man is biased in his statement and his words must be taken with perspective, but his argument was very clear. The world cares not for the Afghans dying of hunger but instead of non-living objects such as the Buddha statutes.
As another side to this argument, I found this statement to be extremely relevent: Intolerance is not a Muslim failing but a human one. When people think of Islam they more often than not think of the Taliban and transfer their feelings to the whole of Islam. The part becomes the whole. And yet fanaticism is not unique to Islam just as it is not typical of Islam either. For example, in the 7th and 8th centuries, Christian religious fanatics were destroying "infidel" statutes and pictures in the Byzantium Empire. The logic is the same as today: if we do exactly as what we think God wants us to do, then maybe these terrible things will stop happening to us. That is not to say that Christians and Muslims are entirely blameless in destroying such important pieces of the world's history, because each are prejudiced in their own ways.
Wahhabi religious authorities in Saudi Arabia have been eradicating remnants of pre-Islamic religions practices as well, since 1820, when they destroyed 12th century statutes of Dhu Khalasa, a pagan god. Yet I believe that people's lives are more than images and icons. There is only so much this destruction can go on, eventually all these remnants will be gone (though we should still try to protect them as long as possible). The Taliban cannot have failed to notice that blowing up the statutes focused more international attention on their country than all the years of war, all the lives snuffed out, and all the survivors who live today in misery. Though they are not exactly seeking help for the people they rule, they are humans all the same.
Sources: Japan Times, Times of India, The Chicago Tribune, The Washington Post
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