பாமியான் புத்த சிலை போன்ற மிங்கோரா புத்த சிலையை உடைக்க பாகிஸ்தான் இஸ்லாமிய பயங்கரவாதிகள் சபதம்

பாகிஸ்தானில் உள்ள மிங்கோராவில் பாமியான் புத்த சிலைகளைப்போன்ற புத்த சிலைகள் உள்ளன. அவற்றை உடைத்தெரிய பாகிஸ்தான் இஸ்லாமிய பயங்கரவாதிகள் முயன்றுள்ளனர்.



இசையையும் கலைகளையும் சிற்பங்களையும் ஓவியங்களையும் கவிதைகளையும் அழித்துவிட்டு என்ன புத்துலகம் படைக்கப்போகிறார்கள்?

கலைகளை ரசிக்க முடியாத மனம் வன்முறை நிறைந்ததாக இருப்பதில் ஆச்சரியமென்ன?

இவர்கள் தங்கள் வன்முறை மார்க்கத்தை விட்டுவிட்டு அன்பு மார்க்கம் திரும்ப விரும்புவோம்.

Pakistani militants try to blow up Buddha carving
Published on Wednesday, September 12, 2007 at 13:45 in World section

Mingora (Pakistan): Islamist militants in Pakistan have tried to blow up a seventh-century Buddhist rock carving in an attack reminiscent of the destruction of ancient Buddha statues in Afghanistan six years ago.

There was, however, no damage to the image of the sitting Buddha carved into a 130-foot high rock in mountains 20 km north of Mingora, a town in the scenic Swat valley, northwest of the capital, Islamabad.

A group of masked-men tried to destroy the carving on Tuesday, said provincial archaeology department official Aqleem Khan.

''Militants drilled holes in the rock and filled them with dynamite and blew it up,'' Khan said on Wednesday.

''The explosion damaged the upper part of the rock but there was no damage to the image itself,'' he said.

Buddhism spread through northern India and flourished in what is now Pakistan and Afghanistan hundreds of years before the arrival of Islam. Both countries are now predominantly Muslim.

Khan compared the attack on the carving to the destruction of two giant standing Buddha statues in Bamiyan province in Afghanistan in early 2001 by the then ruling Taliban.

The Taliban blew up the two ancient statues carved into a cliff face saying they were offensive to Islam, despite appeals from around the world, including from Muslim leaders, that they be saved.

''It's just like the way the Taliban used to behave,'' he said.

Khan said there were no arrangements to guard the site in the Jehanabad area in the Swat valley. Police had been informed of the attack, he said.

As in other parts of northwest Pakistan, militants have intensified their activities in the valley in a bid to force people to follow a strict Islamic code.

There have also been several attacks on security forces in the valley in recent months.

Last week, militants blew up about 60 music, video and cosmetics stalls in a market in the valley after their owners ignored warnings to close their businesses that the Islamists deemed un-Islamic.

Moderate Pakistanis are dismayed by the growing influence of militants pushing their austere interpretation of Islam, mostly in ethnic Pashtun tribal areas in the northwest, in a process known as ''Talibanisation''.