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Sri Lanka Makes Last Ditch Effort to Save Ancient Buddha Statues
With Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickremanayke's departure for Pakistan on Tuesday, the Buddhists dominant country is making its last ditch effort to prevent Afghanistan's Taliban authorities from further demolishing ancient Buddha statues on their soil.
Government officials here said the prime minister was undertaking the current visit despite reports that the Taliban authorities had destroyed the giant Bamiyan statutes dating back to the 2nd century AD.
The country decided to send Wickremanayake to Pakistan, one of the three countries besides Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates recognizing the Taliban authorities to lobby the Pakistani leader to put more pressure on Taliban to stop the destruction of the Bamiyan statues.
Officials said that Wickremanayake is due to hold talks with Pakistan's Chief Executive General Pervez Musharraf over the issue of the destruction of Buddha statues in Afghanistan.
Prior to Wickremanayake's visit, Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar also held talks with Musharraf and expressed Colombo's concerns for the Bamiyan Buddha statues.
Ever since the Taliban authorities issued edict to destroy all Buddha statues in the country late last month, the government has launched a series of diplomatic moves to save these priceless Buddha statues.
Shortly after Taliban's decision, Kadirgamar, who was on a visit to the United Arab Emirates at the time, promptly instructed his country's ambassadors in India, Thailand, Myanmar and Nepal to consult with these countries to forestall Taliban's destruction.
President Chandrika Kumaratunga last Wednesday wrote to U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan and informed him that her government was willing to finance an international drive to save the Buddha statues. Sri Lanka also co-sponsored a resolution introduced by Germany at the U.N. general Assembly on Friday to call upon the Taliban authorities to abide by their previous commitment to protect Afghanistan's cultural heritage from all acts of vandalism, damage and theft.
The main opposition United National Party, which rarely agrees with the government, also supported government moves to pressure Taliban to save the statues.
Thousands of Buddhist monks and their followers in the country have launched several protest marches in the island to denounce the destruction of Buddhist statues in Afghanistan.
Various political and religious leaders in the island country where Buddhists account for around 70 percent of the total population have also joined the protest campaign against Taliban's move.
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