Posted on 11/25/2009 10:18:03 PM PST by SunkenCiv
Archaeologists warn that the Taliban are destroying Pakistan's ancient Gandhara heritage and rich Buddhist legacy as pilgrimage and foreign research dries up in the country's northwest. "Militants are the enemies of culture," said Abdul Nasir Khan, curator of Taxila Museum, one of the premier archeological collections in Pakistan. "It is very clear that if the situation carries on like this, it will destroy our culture and will destroy our cultural heritage," he told AFP. Taxila, a small town around 20 kilometres south of Islamabad, is one of Pakistan's foremost archeological attractions given its history as a centre of Buddhist learning from the 5th century BC to the 2nd century. Violence is on the rise in Pakistan as Taliban bombers and gunmen strike with increasing frequency and intensity in the cities of North West Frontier Province and around the capital Islamabad... In March 2001, Taliban militants in neighbouring Afghanistan blew up two 1,500-year-old Bamiyan Buddha statues... Italian archaeologists were active in Pakistan's northwest Swat valley from 1956 until they reluctantly discontinued work in 2007 after Taliban fighters led by radical cleric Maulana Fazlullah rose up demanding sharia law... With the Taliban killing and bombing their way through the valley, the museum closed in 2008 and he evacuated the most priceless antiquities. That September, the Taliban twice tried to blow up 7th century Buddhist relics -- damaging a rock engraved with images of Buddha that for centuries had been a pilgrimage site.
(Excerpt) Read more at thehimalayantimes.com ...
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So I guess Dr. Khan and the Pakistani’s trying to stop this aren’t Muslim?
“So I guess Dr. Khan and the Pakistani’s trying to stop this aren’t Muslim?”
In the context of the present world, destruction of archeologic sites is a sort of “crime against humanity.”
Perhaps not of a magnitude calling for the death penalty, but nonetheless a crime.
I presume there are plenty of muslims who value history. Egypt has, Im sure, many muslims that research their history, instead of blowing up the pyramids.
Islam has always been the worst enemy of Buddhism .
The rotten moslems ravaged India in days of old paying special
genocidal attention to the most harmless of all sects ; the Buddhists . Over the centuries nothing has changed . Despicable Islam always directs it’s greatest rage at those least likely to defend themselves ; Buddhists , women , unsuspecting and unarmed civilians .
Islam should either be forced to genuinely reform itself , or face being wiped from the fabric of humanity . As it exists today there is not room on this planet for such an evil set of values ,held by so many .
I wish God would unleash the swine flu upon all that attend the hajj . This would be true and righteous justice .
I’m confused: I thought it was only American troops that wrecked Mideast antiquities. That’s what all those clymers on the left told us.
I’m not as sophisticated as that — I wanna parade around with the jihadis heads on poles, or at least watch someone doing that.
;’) Have a great Thanksgiving.
;’) Have a great Thanksgiving.
Happy thanksgiving to you and your family as well :)
Moose limbs. [spits]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gandhara#Taxila
Thanks ct.
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