Of Statues, Tigers, Terrorists, Diplomacy and Regional Cooperation

In recent years, fundamentalist policies of one kind or the other, have added to South Asia’s congenital woes. The latest in the series has been the destruction of Buddhist Statues at Bamiyan, in central Afghanistan along with statues at other places in the country. The destruction was ordained by the Supreme ruler of the Taliban as a part of cleansing process to rid the Islamic nation of all non-Islamic identities. The order included the collection of the National Museum in Kabul and targeted specifically the Afghanistan’s best-known archaeological site, the two towering Buddha images carved into a cliff face at Bamiyan one of which happens to be the tallest Buddhist Statue in the world. Described as an heritage that "is central to Afghanistan’s memory and identity and is a landmark in the history of other civilizations" the destruction was bound to provoke an international outcry much in the way the authors of vandalism expected as a lesson to those nations which were orchestrating an isolation for the fundamentalist regime. It had its echo in all the South Asian nations as well, given the religious composition of the people. Appeals for their preservation came from the United States, France, Thailand, Japan, Sri Lanka, Iran among others and the Secretary General of the United Nations Organization. Mr. Koichiro Matsuura, chief of the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), said their destruction would be a "real cultural disaster that will cause irreparable harm to a heritage of exceptional universal value" and that "the loss of the Afghan statues, and of the Buddha of Bamiyan in particular, would be loss for humanity as a whole." The appeal however went into deaf ear as Afghanistan’s Foreign Minister, Mr. Wakil Ahmad Mutawakel, described the edict irreversible. As the world watched in horror, statues came under a barrage of rocket and tank fire including automatic rifles. Even as international community was one in appealing to the ruling militia to spare the heritage, most of the ancient Buddhist relics, including the head and legs of two soaring statues of the Buddha were destroyed.

The UNESCO Special Envoy, Mr. Pierre Lafrance, called on the Taliban envoy, Mulla Abdul Salaam Zaeef, in a bid to convince him to take up the case with the Taliban leadership and halt the destruction but failed in the mission. Taliban officials said today Afghanistan’s ancient Bamiyan Buddhas were nearly destroyed and ruled out any hope for their preservation ahead of talks with a special United Nations envoy.

As a repository of the world’s major cultures, India condemned the decree of ‘assault’ on heritage monuments by the Taliban describing the act as an ‘absolute outrage.’ "The Taliban is persisting with their obscurantist and medieval program in destroying valuable cultural, historical and archaeological artifacts." In a bid to mobilize international opinion, the Indian Prime Minister, wrote to the Secretary General of the United Nations, and the leaders of the five permanent members of the Security Council to rescue the ancient statues of the Buddha in Afghanistan. Besides the U.S., the U.K, France, Russia and China, the Prime Minister also sent messages to other countries, mainly in South East Asia, having large Buddhist population. These include Japan, South Korea, Thailand, Myanmar, Cambodia, Sri Lanka and Laos. The Indian Parliament expressed condemnation of the Taliban’s cultural vandalism. In a unanimous resolution adopted by both Houses of Parliament, India condemned "in the strongest possible terms" the decision and even offered to bring these monuments to its soil. The Indian Prime Minister, addressing the issue came down on the Taliban rulers acting with an obsession to convert the world into a battlefield. "The decision to destroy the historic statues of the Buddha had exposed that such acts of shamelessness were being carried out by those who were neither civilized nor true Muslims."

Dalai Lama, the high priest of Buddhism, expressed deep concern and shock over the destruction of Buddha statues in Afghanistan and appealed to Governments with close ties with the ruling Taliban militia to use their influence to stop destruction of the historical monuments. Even prominent Muslim Ulemas condemned the destruction of historical Buddha statues by the Taliban militia and termed their act as "un-Islamic and barbaric." The All-India Shia Sunni Front (AIISF) and the All-India Muslim Unity Front (AIMUF) demanded that the United Nations should "declare Pakistan and Afghanistan as terrorist countries." The Afghanistan Ambassador to India, Mr. Masood Khalili, charged Pakistan’s Inter-services Intelligence with masterminding the destruction of the Buddhist relics and said there was a "political agenda" behind it.

In an apparent show of defiance, the Taliban Foreign Minister overlooked the international diplomatic campaign in saving statues, and said dynamite was being used to demolish the statues despite the Id-ul-Adha holiday. The minister went on to describe as unfair to compare the destruction of Bamiyan Buddha statues with the demolition of "the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya," in India. Afghanistan even rejected an appeal by the United Nations Secretary-General, Mr. Kofi Annan, to halt the destruction of the pre-Islamic artifacts in Afghanistan and conveyed to him in unambiguous terms that the Taliban was determined to destroy all artifacts including the two giant Buddha statues which it considers as ‘anti-Islamic’.

In an expression of strong emotion against the politics of demolitions, Lolita Nehru wrote, "several thousand years of human history and artistic achievements, 80 years of archeological excavations by European and Afghan teams, are been destroyed in a matter of days. While the world looks on. It was the same, not so long ago, when thousands of Taliban monasteries, repositories of 1,300 years of an unique human civilisation, were destroyed. Protests are voiced, but those who voice them do not have the power to stop the destruction. While those who have the power keep silent. Because Buddha statues are not relevant to the big powers, or lucrative, in the way oil and natural gas are. Where and natural gas are threatened, reactions are different."

Ghazala, a journalist with the Pakistani women’s monthly Herald and a member of Afghan Women’s Net work, writes about the Taliban’s desecration of the Bamiyan Buddhas: "These statues and sculptures of Buddha date back to a period before Afghanistan come under Islam. They are part of Afghan heritage and through these fascist acts, they want to wipe out their own people’s pre-Islamic history."

The impasse over Kashmir continues, extensions of cease-fire not withstanding. The main obstacle has been the leg-slip over the precise nature of the process that can give the peace a firm base to stand on. This confusion has begun to generate a sense of exasperation among those who would really like to see normalcy restored in the valley. The recurrent attacks by the militant groups have spurred up fresh debates within the armed forces which use to be one of the principal advocates of the cease-fire. In the medley of recent developments, the India-Pakistan problem has both been simplified and rendered more difficult at the same time. The two routes to peace the Hurriyat course and the Track-II process, which seemed promising at one stage, are no longer available. The gains of the cease-fire Delhi would be squandered away if there is no engagement with various sections of political opinion. That is how the senior Congress leader and former Union Minister, Dr. Karan Singh, put the cease-fire in Jammu and Kashmir as having been largely wasted as it had not been accompanied by any political initiative.

While the official channels remain bogged down under pretexts of formalities and legitimacy of representation, the initiative some what got a diversion thanks to the visit of the Official World Peace Keeper, Secretary General Kofi Annan to the region. On the eve of the visit tough the Secretary General stirred up a hornets nest in the militant camp with his remarks that India and Pakistan should resolve all their disputes in the spirit of the Lahore Declaration as the UN resolutions on the Kashmir dispute cannot be enforced in the absence of cooperation from both the countries. "Return" to the spirit of the Lahore Declaration would require "restraint, wisdom and constructive steps from both sides." His reference to the spirit of the Lahore Declaration would not have gone down well with his hosts, as the military government feels the document was signed by the Nawaz Sharif Government without "adequate preparation." The Secretary General would have preferred to avoid any reference on his own to the UN resolution on the Kashmir conflict as was evident from his remarks that there could be no comparison between the UN resolutions on East Timor and Iraq and those on Kashmir. Secretary General urged India and Pakistan to renew their stalled dialogue immediately and once again, shut out any UN option to resolve the Kashmir dispute. Significantly, Mr. Annan refused to meet the Hurriyat Conference representative, Mr. Abdul Ghani Lone.

Annan’s clarification on status of the Secretary Council’s 1948 resolutions on Jammu and Kashmir comes as a two edged sword. There this possibility that it may add to the belligerence of the jehadi outfits in Pakistan and generally harden extremist trends. On the other hand it can have a chastening effect and induce realism. Given the "high expectations" pinned on Mr. Annan’s visit for support to their stand and the deep sense of shock now, any optimism on this count will be out of place. The call for action on the 1948 resolutions was a code word for the demand for amalgamating the State with Pakistan and, as such, both the establishment and most of the parties felt cheated of the backing they thought was their due in the achievement of their objective. In days to come, they will reserve harsh epithets for Mr. Annan, harsher for India.

Amid considerable confusion back home over India’s position on the Norwegian-backed initiative aimed at resolving the conflict in the island nation the Sri Lankan President, Ms. Chandrika Kumaratunga, was in New Delhi. The prospect for ending the civil war in Sri Lanka figured prominently among the many issues that were discussed between the visiting Sri Lankan President, and the Indian leadership.

The prospects of regional cooperation in South Asia in the back ground of India’s reluctance to join the summit since Gen. Pervez Musharraf ousted the civilian Government in Pakistan in a coup in October 1999 also figured as Sri Lanka now is the Chairman of the SAARC. New Delhi confirmed that India remained committed to the SAARC process as confirmed in an earlier understanding between New Delhi and Colombo when Sri Lankan Foreign Minister, Mr. Lakshaman Kadirgamar, came here last December. The two sides had agreed that a meeting of the Standing Committee of the SAARC "could be considered" if the current round of expert-level meetings among South Asian nations comes up with significant decisions.

Ms. Kumaratunga apprised the Indian Prime Minister of her efforts to initiate talks with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam and pursue constitutional reforms to address the demands of Tamils for political devolution. India reiterated its commitment to Sri Lanka’s unity and territorial integrity.

The Norwegian special envoy, Mr. Erilk Solheim, who has been trying to bring the Kumaratunga Government and the LTTE together for negotiations, has said in an interview to The Hindu that contrary to speculation, he was convinced the Indian Government was fully supportive of the peace process in Sri Lanka.

In the wake of announcement of lifting of all post-Kargil sanctions on, and resumption of development assistance for India by Canada, the Canadian trade department outlined its future policy of engagement with India as a "top priority" country in view of the size of its economy, and its economic prospects and it being a source of strategic imports.. Addressing a meeting organized by the Confederation of Indian Industry-Southern Region (CII-SR), the Canadian Deputy Minister for International Trade, Mr. Rob Wright said, the present volume of bilateral trade, at less than $2 billion, was too small compared to India's own foreign trade of $70 billion and that of Canada exceeding $260 billion. Both countries had to think of ways of realizing their full potential for cooperation. India, he pointed out, had emerged as the 11th largest economy in the world from the position of 16th five years ago, while it ranked fourth in terms of purchasing power parity.

Complied from news sources

By

Arabinda Acharya