Asian
Reaction
India: Rumtek monastery condemns Taliban 'vandalism'
China Registers "Shock And Sorrow"
Lanka offers financial aid to save Buddha statues
Thailand urges Taleban not to destroy statues
Tibetans condemn Taliban action
Dalai Lama flays Taliban action
Cambodia appeals to Taliban to stop destruction
Buddhist monks, students protest Taliban's
India asks Taliban to hand over statues
India: Rumtek monastery condemns Taliban 'vandalism'
(March 5, 2001, AFP) GANGTOK: The world famous Rumtek monastery in Sikkim on Sunday condemned the destruction of the heads and legs of the 2000-year-old Buddha statues at Bamiyan in Afghanistan by the Taliban, describing it as a act of "vandalism".
"We condemn the demolition of the Buddha statues by the Taliban militia in Afghanistan", a spokesman of the Dharma Chakra centre of the Rumtek monastery administration told PTI over phone here.
The Rumtek monastery, the headquarters of the Karma Kagyu sect of Buddhism which houses a number of Buddha statues and other relics, supported the offer made by the Union government to bring the artifacts from Afghanistan to India and preserve them as treasures of the Afghan people.
Thailand urges Taleban not to destroy statues
(Thursday March 1, Reuters) BANGKOK - Thailand has urged the Islamic world to press Afghanistan not to go ahead with plans to destroy ancient Buddhist statues its Taleban rulers have declared graven idols.
Thai Foreign Minister Surakiart Sathirathai told a news conference on Thursday that the ministry would use various forms of diplomacy to stop the destruction of the statues.
Surakiart said he would talk to "Buddhist allies" to help Thailand put pressure on the Taleban. "I will tell them such action hurts our feelings," he said. "This is not only to preserve Buddhist (culture), but to save the world's heritage."
China Registers "Shock And Sorrow"
(March 5, 2001, AP)-- China expressed "shock and sorrow" over the destruction late Saturday and urged the Taliban to stop.
"Buddhism is an important component of world culture and its relics are treasures belonging to the people of the whole world," an unnamed Chinese official was quoted as saying by the state-run Xinhua News Agency.
Those remarks echoed statements of concern from Japan, where most people consider themselves followers of both Buddhism and the native Shinto religion.
Lanka offers financial aid to save Buddha statues
(AFP, March 8, 2001) COLOMBO: Sri Lanka Wednesday offered to finance a possible international operation to save the priceless Buddha statues threaten with destruction by the Taliban rulers in
Afganistan. Sri Lanka President Chandrika Kumaratunga wrote United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan making the offer to join in any collective drive to save the statues, her secretary Kusumsiri Balapatabendi said.
Tibetans condemn Taliban action
The Times of India News Service, March 8, 2001
MYSORE: The Regional Tibetan Youth Congress and Regional Tibetan Women's Association on Wednesday expressed deep shock and dismay over the recent action of the Taliban regime in destroying statues and other monuments of early centuries.
They said, "True Islamic religion does not preach such vandalism and disregard to other religions.''
In a statement jointly issued by Regional Tibetan Youth Congress president Lobsang Dorjee and Tibetan Women's Association president Dolma Yangchen said, ``These figures are part of the cultural heritage that belongs to the whole mankind and such blatant barbarism needs to be condemned by all.''
Dalai Lama flays Taliban action
Shimla, March. 4. (PTI): Exiled Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, has 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.
``I am deeply concerned at the possible destruction of the Bamiyan statue of Buddha in Afghanistan at a time when there is a closer understanding and better harmony among different religious traditions of the world,'' he said in a statement issued after a meeting of the Cabinet of the Tibetan ``government-in-exile.''
A spokesman of the Dalai Lama said the statues of Buddha were not only for the people of Afghanistan but of the world at large. As a Buddhist, the Dalai Lama felt that it was unfortunate that these objects of worship were becoming targets of destruction, he added.
India asks Taliban to hand over statues
Friday, March 2, 2001
India asked Afghanistan's Taliban rulers today to stop destroying its statues of Buddha and hand them over for preservation in India.
''If the Taliban do not wish to retain their inheritance, India would be happy to arrange for the transfer of all these artifacts to India, where they would be kept safely and preserved for all mankind,'' Foreign Minister Jaswant Singh said in Parliament.
''It is tragic that this act of vandalism, the most extreme among the many other acts of destruction of statues, artifacts and archaeological treasures of Afghanistan, is being pursued despite a global outcry against it,'' Singh said. The minister said the Taliban's ideology was responsible for ''the Taliban territories emerging as the world's principal center of international terrorism, illicit drugs and violation of human rights, especially
those of women.''
Cambodia appeals to Taliban to stop destruction
PHNOM PENH, March 3 (Kyodo) - The Cambodian government on Saturday appealed to Afghanistan's ruling Taliban regime to immediately halt the destruction of pre-Islamic statues in the country.
The appeal, signed by two heads of Cambodia's Buddhist monks and Cult and Religious Affairs Minister Chea
Savoeun, follows attacks against mainly Buddhist statues since Tuesday.
The appeal also requested the United Nations intervene to stop the destruction.
''We would like to appeal to the United Nations, in particular, UNESCO (U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization), to please take all possible measures...to stop their inhuman acts against assets of the culture and arts of humankind,'' the letter said.
Buddhist monks, students protest Taliban's
NEW DELHI, India (March 5, 2001, AP)Thousands of Buddhist monks and students paraded through the streets of the Indian and Nepalese capitals Monday, denouncing the destruction of ancient statues of Buddha by Afghanistan's Taliban rulers.
The rallies, led by Buddhist monks in flowing maroon robes, ended at the United Nations offices in New Delhi and Katmandu.
The protesters demanded that the world body send a delegation to bring back whatever was left of the Buddhist relics in that country.