Frontline
March  2001 
Special Report


 
‘Our people will not forgive the enemies of their heritage’

(In response to a request from Communalism Combat for 
their reaction, the Revolutionary Association of the 
Women of Afghanistan (RAWA) sent us the following statement)

Due to the Taliban’s criminal and anti–civilisation, anti–democracy and misogynist nature and policies, their decision in order to destroy the Buddha statues in Afghanistan last month, was not something unexpected and shocking at least for our people and us. 
The Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan (RAWA) strongly condemns the destruction of the Buddha, the largest ancient statues in the world and one of the most important cultural legacies of our country and a historical place for millions of tourists. This act of vandalism is not only against our people but also against world civilisation. We would like to point out the reasons behind this criminal decision and action by the Taliban:

Ø The destruction of the statues and other relics is a reaction against the UN sanctions on Taliban and a way to make other countries recognise them as a legitimate government of Afghanistan. Taliban want to use this as a powerful tool for pressurising the world community to rethink about their relations with them and their economic and political isolation at the international level. In other words, the Taliban wanted to gain privilege from the international community by threatening to destroy the statues.

Ø The second reason which is more important is that the Taliban want to terrorise Afghan people; to silence their voices and force them to accept the bloody and criminal Emirate of the Taliban. According to the Taliban, our people must obey what they want to implement and impose on the country. Besides the ban of the Taliban on any type of expression of thought, Afghan people are also so starved and traumatised that they cannot even think about cultural and historical issues, let alone showing any resistance or protest, 
As an Afghan ex–teacher in Kabul, rightly said: “Naturally we are concerned first about our stomachs now. But it does not mean we have to lose what is left of our cultural legacy.” “We are too hungry to think about these things… When you have children going to bed with empty stomachs, of course your prime concern would be to see them alive sunrise,” said another man. 

Ø By ignoring the strong reaction of the people all over the world against their decision, the Taliban want to show the world community  how powerful they are! They also want to pretend that they are the indisputable masters of the Afghan nation and that its fate is in their hands and no one has the right to protest.

Ø By committing this wild, brutal and foolish act the Taliban want to divert the attention of the world community from their criminal and violence-ridden actions towards our people, particularly women.

Ø This might be another reason for the destruction of the statues: since both the Taliban and jehadis (Mujahideen) have committed all their crimes under the guise of Islam, they are afraid that people may turn away from Islam. It is worth mentioning that it was the jehadis who started to destroy and steal our cultural relics soon after assuming power in 1992, forcing our Sikh, Hindu and Christian brothers and sisters to leave the country in panic. The Kabul museum was looted by jehadi traitors in 1992 and all the worthy artefacts were sold in Pakistani markets. Our people know well that during the resistance war against Russia, it was a jehadi criminal, the so–called leader Malawi Khalis who fired on the Buddha statues in Bamiyan and destroyed a part of it. Taliban are just tracing their path. Therefore, the condemnation of this act by traitors such as Rabbani, Masoud and other jehadi butchers is like shedding crocodile tears. But for our bereaved and chained people, the solution and end for their miseries and sufferings is not conversion from one religion to another. 

This criminal act really got a great response from the world community compared to their reaction towards the ongoing crimes, atrocities and human rights violations for more than 20 years. We believe that now when the Taliban have already destroyed the historical heritage and relics of Afghanistan, it is time for the world community to seriously reconsider their policies and stand towards the fundamentalists. They must bear in mind that this criminal act has no relation to our people; that the domination of the fundamentalists of all colours is the root cause of all these cultural, economical and political destruction. They must refrain from granting recognition to either side; they must know and accept that Afghanistan is in the grip of the most merciless and political dinosaurs, and that that is why Afghanistan has turned into the largest terrorist training base in the world and the region in particular. They also should know how dangerous and dreadful fundamentalism would be if not resisted  and destroyed completely. 

However, we feel it our obligation to apologise to all Buddhists and people interested in ancient artefacts and heritages the world over for the destruction of the statues by the criminal Taliban. And we hope that the world community would at least now know the real nature of the fundamentalists. We urge the freedom–loving people of the world to put pressure on their relevant governments to take practical measures in order to put an end to all the vandalism and naked barbarism.

The insane decision of the barbaric Taliban to destroy our historic artefacts shows that the religious fascists would go to any extent in order to intimidate the world community and perpetuate their bloody domination. It’s high time that the UN to takes effective practical measures to stop the Taliban and other fundamentalists groups in Afghanistan. 

In solidarity with all the people of the world we will march to destroy the destroyers of our people and our cultural heritage.        
(March 11, 2001).


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