KABUL (Reuters) - Afghanistan's ruling Taliban stopped shelling two giant Buddhas for the duration of a Muslim holiday and their envoy to Pakistan offered a faint ray of hope that the remains of the partly destroyed statues could be saved.
With the holiday likely to finish at the weekend, witnesses and media reports on Tuesday expressed the radical Islamist movement's continued determination to wipe out all statues in the area it controls -- more than 90 percent of Afghanistan.
But Taliban ambassador in neighboring Pakistan, Abdul Salam Zaeef, said in an interview with Reuters Television an appeal from religious scholars in the Arabic world "may help."
"The work to destroy the statues has begun and 25 percent of the two huge statues in Bamiyan have been destroyed," Zaeef said.
"I am not hopeful and not disappointed...whether the destruction will be stopped or will continue, but maybe if there is a message from religious scholars of the Arabic world this may help," he added.
Want to learn more? http://www.reuters.com/news_article.jhtml?type=world&Repository=WORLD_REP&RepositoryStoryID=%2Fnews%2FIDS%2FWorld%2FINTERNATIONAL-AFGHAN-STATUES-DC_NEW.XML
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One door closed is one door opened
One more memory fades away
Such grand dreams we all have chosen
We lost our innocence along the way
- Rose Bygrave, "Innocence"
PsychoticIckyThing.Com
With the holiday likely to finish at the weekend, witnesses and media reports on Tuesday expressed the radical Islamist movement's continued determination to wipe out all statues in the area it controls -- more than 90 percent of Afghanistan.
But Taliban ambassador in neighboring Pakistan, Abdul Salam Zaeef, said in an interview with Reuters Television an appeal from religious scholars in the Arabic world "may help."
"The work to destroy the statues has begun and 25 percent of the two huge statues in Bamiyan have been destroyed," Zaeef said.
"I am not hopeful and not disappointed...whether the destruction will be stopped or will continue, but maybe if there is a message from religious scholars of the Arabic world this may help," he added.
Want to learn more? http://www.reuters.com/news_article.jhtml?type=world&Repository=WORLD_REP&RepositoryStoryID=%2Fnews%2FIDS%2FWorld%2FINTERNATIONAL-AFGHAN-STATUES-DC_NEW.XML
------------------
One door closed is one door opened
One more memory fades away
Such grand dreams we all have chosen
We lost our innocence along the way
- Rose Bygrave, "Innocence"
PsychoticIckyThing.Com