They were not successful.
But, this did not stop the Islamists.
Swat, the land of romance and beauty, is celebrated throughout the world as the holy land of Buddhist learning and piety. Swat acquired fame as a place of Buddhist pilgrimage. There are now more than 400 Buddhist sites covering and area of 160 Km in Swat valley only. The Swat region is linked by road and by air with Islamabad/Rawalpindi and Peshawar in Pakistan.
Today the Islamists came back to destroy the ancient Buddha of Swat.
They had much better luck.
Times of India and Thanos at LGF reported:
PESHAWAR: A seventh-century Buddhist relic in Pakistan was damaged when Islamic militants blasted it with dynamite, police said on Saturday.
They said that the militants used home-made bombs to try to blow up the mountainside engraving, a Buddhist pilgrimage site, and fired at it using automatic weapons.
"Late on Friday, militants attempted to blow up the engraving but they could only damage it partially," local police official Masood Khan said, adding it was the second attempt to destroy the relic, in Swat in northwest Pakistan.
A local museum official said thousands of Buddhist pilgrims came to the region every year despite security threats to visit the image of Buddha sitting cross-legged, and criticised authorities for failing to protect it.
The incident recalled the internationally condemned destruction of the huge Bamiyan Buddhas in neighbouring Afghanistan by the hardline Taliban regime in 2001.
Swat is known for its Buddhist heritage and archaeological sites and attracts large number of tourists, mainly from Buddhist countries.
A statue of Buddha carved into a rock is seen in Jehanabad earlier this month. (AP Photo/Hameedullah Khan)
Previously:
Islamists Bomb-Blast Ancient Swat Valley Buddha in Pakistan
How come the same amount of crocodile tears were not cried for the 3 to 5 million Buddhists who where killed when the United States bombed Vietnam and Cambodia?
ReplyDeleteOn what planet and solar system?
ReplyDeleteThis post is about planet earth.
This is getting surprisingly little coverage in the American press. Perhaps because they are still asleep and dreaming of how their favorite dictator is keeping pakistan safe for democracy? If Pakistan was actually ruled directly by Islamists (instead of being ruled by the army with Islamists used or discarded as needed) they could atleast have been held accountable for this crime. Now Musharraf will simply ask for even more money to "spread freedom and democracy"..
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ReplyDeleteoh yeah, they just want to spread their "religion of peace".. not to be confused with Islam..
FLASHBACK: MARCH 11, 2001
Giant Buddha statues 'blown up'
["Basically he confirmed that all movable statues have been destroyed and the destruction of the two [giant] statues had begun, but he could not tell me the status of the demolition," Mr Annan said.]
ah, another thing the UN handled so well (can't
recall if that was before or after lunch).. gah!!
all these events not deterring mosques & madrassa's spreading like weeds throughout the US.. not to mention accomodating so called "Muslim rituals & beliefs".. BUT LETS BE PPERFECTLY CLEAR, THERE WILL BE NO CHRISTMAS TREES FOR THEE CHRSITAINS!! NO FLAGS FOR YOU PATRIOTS & NO PRAYERS OR PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE IN SCHOOLS.. ONLY "FOOTBATHS & SEPARATE PRAYER RUG ROOMS" ALLOWED.. THIS IS AMERCIA!! LAND OF THE FREE..
please check out this site as often as you can.. AIFD
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Waiting for all those peaceful, tolerant, respectful Muslims to get out and protest this act of barbarism. Waiting...waiting...waiting...
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