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India calls Taleban's idol-breaking
an 'absolute outrage'

India Thursday described as an ''absolute outrage'' the Taleban regime's destruction of many statues, including two huge ones of Buddha in Bamiyan province of Afghanistan.

Disregarding an international outcry over its decision to destroy the ancient statues and other heritage artefacts, Afghanistan's Taleban began pounding the statues in various cities to pieces by using cannons and battle tanks to blast them.

Afghanistan Radio quoted Taleban Information Minister Qudratullah Jamal as telling reporters in Kabul that the Taleban started destroying statues in the Kandahar, Bamiyan, Heart and Kabul museums following a fresh decree.

"We will use all means, including cannons and tanks to destroy the statues," the minister said.

The destruction of the artefacts of cultural, historical and archaelogical, religious importance, reflects the Taleban's obstructionist approach, a spokesman of the Ministry of External Affairs said.

Taleban chief Mulla Omer issued an edict on Monday ordering that all statues found in Afghanistan should be destroyed. The Indian Government had earlier urged the Taleban not to destroy statues of Buddha and other statues because of their great historical importance.

The United Nations and Unesco Wednesday joined India in condemning the Taleban edict. In another statement on Wednesday, Sri Lanka also urged neighbouring India, Nepal, Thailand and Myanmar to make joint efforts to safeguard Buddhist statues in Afghanistan.

The Vishwa Hindu Parishad joined issue with the fundamentalist regime in Afghanistan over the destruction of statues and threatened a "reaction" in communally-sensitive Ajmer town of Rajasthan if they do not stop "insulting" Rajput warrior Prithviraj Chauhan's memorial in Ghazni.

"The destruction of Bamiyan statues is an insult to Budhhism," VHP senior vice-president Acharya Giriraj Kishore told reporters.

Alleging that the 'samadhi' of Hindu warrior Prithviraj Chauhan in Ghazni was being "insulted" by the Taleban regime, Kishore said, "People, in his erstwhile capital of Ajmer, are agitated over it and they may react if it does not stop."

Asked what was meant by "reaction", Bajrang Dal leader Surendra Jain said, "You never know how people react."

The dargah of sufi saint Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti in Ajmer commands a massive following across the Indian sub-continent, including many Hindus, and is cited as an example of communal harmony.

Agencies

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