Police arrest 4 men for destroying ancient Buddha statue found during construction in Mardan

[Mrc]

I know, he is Altafist who will find anything to blame punjabis like TTP/PTM supporters.

here is another funny take by pashtun nationalist

https://twitter.com/x/status/1284359227797118977

but statues were destroyed by local residents

 

[masterchief_mirza]

but what did the egyptians call it.

Abu Simba seems to be Mufasa. Simba kay Abbu



Is it illegal act?

Yes it's illegal.

"Prohibition of destruction, damage, etc. to protected antiquity or important antiquity.---(1) No person shall, except for carrying out the purposes of this Act, destroy, break, damage, alter, injure, deface or mutilate or scribble, write or engage any inscription or sign on, any antiquity or take manure from any protected antiquity or important antiquity."

http://kpcode.kp.gov.pk/homepage/lawDetails/1152

 

[Mrc]

See. it's worthless if it has lost its true meaning.

Egyptians are grave robbers. You don't have to be like them. Nor let locals auctions their heritage nor let them deny it.

National History Museum ka bhi iftetah karwalo Niazi se. Whose stopping you?

so you are in favor of destroying this statue? i dont get your arguement....and i dont think niazi burried it there and certainly dont seem like person with hammer...whats politics to do with this?

 

[Kabira]

Yes it's illegal.

"Prohibition of destruction, damage, etc. to protected antiquity or important antiquity.---(1) No person shall, except for carrying out the purposes of this Act, destroy, break, damage, alter, injure, deface or mutilate or scribble, write or engage any inscription or sign on, any antiquity or take manure from any protected antiquity or important antiquity."

http://kpcode.kp.gov.pk/homepage/lawDetails/1152

(2) Whoever contravenes the provisions of sub-section (1), shall be punishable with rigorous imprisonment for a term, which may extend to five years, or with fine up to rupees two million, or with both.

Lets see if they actually get 5 years in prison.

 

[The Accountant]

Dear that piece of stone was Buddha's idol. We are not in 14th century where we can demolished idols and all Budhist countries will enjoy and watch. Does Our strategic partner China feels good after watching it. Then please dont complain when Babri mosque is demolishing. Dont complain when chinese stopping muslims to read Quran and all.

Its a difference between an active place of worship and something found in junk. There must be alot of emptied mosques not in use. No one will raise question when u destroy them as they r nothing but a piece of stone.

No one has attacked a place of worship or current object of worship. It was something found in junk of his backyard and he took care of it as it suits to him.

Dont exagerate things

 

[masterchief_mirza]

If you want to see the real tragedy of pakistan's history and its lost culture take this example,

View attachment 652136

This is Bhadrakali temple in Lahore (again read Lahor's history, very interesting right from the beginning)

and see how this temple is converted to a shop
View attachment 652138
check the dome on top, same from the top photo but without the pakistan national flag.... these kids have no idea about what they are doing and where they are....

you can search and see plenty of such examples..... do you know what is the significance of white color in your flag?

I fail to see the equivalence you are trying desperately to draw between a disused Mandir in Pakistan being used for shops, houses or whatever and some kind of criminal destruction of an active holy site. Yes, I'd like to see an ancient holy site preserved as cultural legacy but sadly, Pakistan isn't awash with funds to look after all its ancient monuments - I wish it was.

This is disrepair and neglect, not wanton destruction.

 

[El Sidd]

so you are in favor of destroying this statue? i dont get your arguement....and i dont think niazi burried it there and certainly dont seem like person with hammer...whats politics to do with this?

I am just saying this has been an excuse for ages to stop development work for political reasons.

There is a Murshid di Billi ka mazaar right on the main highway for a reason.

 

[masterchief_mirza]

Do you know the worth of black market trading of these?

Mohen jo Daro is empty because it's all sold out already.

This is why we are a jahil qom.

 

[The Accountant]

Yes I have feelings for our national heritage. Even arabs, malays, indos, and all other muslim take pride in their heritage and past civilisations.
That said a holy artefact of any religion is worthy of respect specially one thousands of years old. It should have been restored for our future generations and to promote religious and cultural tourism instead of destroying it due to sheer retardation.

Who in the right mind would do that? Except ISIS or fk heads the ones seen in the video.

Those who follow quran and sunnah. Do u want me to share sahih hadith u r denying ?

We are ristricted to destroy place of worship only and this was not a place of worship. It was among the junk.

 

[HAIDER]

but what did the egyptians call it.

Abu Simba seems to be Mufasa. Simba kay Abbu



Is it illegal act?

Yes,

ISLAMABAD Lacking the necessary cash and manpower, Pakistan is struggling to stem the flow of millions of dollars in ancient Buddhist artifacts that looters dig up in the country's northwest and smuggle to collectors around the world.

The black market trade in smuggled antiquities is a global problem that some experts estimate is worth billions of dollars per year. The main targets are poor countries like Pakistan that possess a rich cultural heritage but don't have the resources to protect it.

The illicit excavations rob Pakistan of an important potential source of tourism revenue, as valuable icons are spirited out of the country, and destroy any chance for archaeologists to document the history of the sites.
"We are facing a serious problem because Pakistan is a vast country, and we have very meager resources," said Fazal Dad Kakar, head of the government's department of archaeology and museums. "We have no manpower to watch the hundreds of Buddhist sites and monasteries in the country, most of which are located in isolated valleys."

Many of the sites are in the Swat Valley, a verdant, mountainous area in the northwest that was once part of Gandhara, an important Buddhist kingdom that stretched across modern-day Pakistan and Afghanistan more than 1,000 years ago.

Pakistani official looks at Buddha statues confiscated by custom authorities in Karachi, Pakistan, July 6, 2012.AP
Police seized a large container filled with nearly 400 artifacts in the southern port city of Karachi in July that were being trucked north to be smuggled out of the country. About 40 percent were found to be genuine, including nearly 100 Buddhist sculptures up to 1,800-years-old worth millions of dollars, said Qasim Ali Qasim, director of archaeology and museums in southern Sindh province.

There were effectively no restrictions on whisking Buddhist relics out of Pakistan's northwest in the first few decades after the country achieved independence from Britain in 1947, said Malik Naveed, a former police chief of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, where the Swat Valley is located.

That changed in 1975 when the government passed a set of laws criminalizing the practice. But Kakar, the federal archaeology chief, said the laws are difficult to enforce given a lack of funds, and people who are caught rarely receive punishments severe enough to act as much of a deterrent.

Police arrested several people connected to the seizure in Karachi in July, but they have yet to be formally charged.

Two men who were arrested last October for excavating a statue of Buddha from a site in Swat were only fined about $50 each, far less than the maximum punishment of a year in prison and a fine of more than $800 they could have received, said Syed Naeen, a public prosecutor in the area.

A Manhattan art dealer, Subhash Kapoor, is under arrest in neighboring India for allegedly smuggling millions of dollars in antiquities out of India, Pakistan and Afghanistan that he sold to museums and private collectors from his gallery in New York and online, according to police investigators involved with the case.

Rather than dig up Buddhist relics, some Pakistanis have focused on making replicas, such as the ones seized in Karachi, that they often try to pass off as the real thing — although this practice is also illegal in the country. Many operate covertly around the ancient Buddhist site of Taxila, a short drive from the capital, Islamabad.

"I learned the practice from my fellow villagers in my childhood and can fake anything using cement, small stones, some colors and chemicals," said Salahud Deen, who works out of his home in a village near Taxila.

The 30-year-old high school dropout was contacted by The Associated Press through the owner of a tea shop in the area and showed off a sample of his wares, including a small statue of the Buddha's head. He said he recently received an order from a man in Sri Lanka to make a 3-foot tall "fasting Buddha" statue and expected to make a little more than $200 in the process.

Locals who deal in real Buddhist artifacts they have stolen from sites in the northwest likely make much more money, but it's almost nothing compared to what people higher up the food chain earn. Looters receive on average less than 1 percent of the final sale price of an item, while middlemen and dealers get the other 99 percent, according to the former head of the U.N. Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute, Sandro Calvani.

Kakar, the federal archaeology chief, tried to stop Christie's auction house in New York from selling a "fasting Buddha" from the 3rd or 4th century last year as well as dozens of other Buddhist relics he claimed were smuggled out of Pakistan illegally.

Christie's went ahead and sold the Buddha for nearly $4.5 million and has asked Pakistan to provide proof of its claims, the auction house said.

Kakar was more successful with two shipments of Buddhist artifacts from Dubai and Tokyo that were seized by U.S. customs authorities in 2005, he said. He was able to prove the sculptures came from Pakistan by analyzing the age and composition of the stone, and the U.S. returned them, said Kakar.

Neil Brodie, an expert on the illicit trade in antiquities at the University of Glasgow, said it was critical for authorities to put pressure on private collectors and museums whose demand for ancient relics is fueling the black market. Some museums, particularly in Italy and Britain, have become more diligent about avoiding antiquities with questionable histories, but those in the U.S. have much more work to do, he said.

"You are losing the archaeological record on the ground by the destruction that is entailed by digging these relics out," said Brodie.

First published on October 4, 2012 / 6:30 AM

© 2012 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

 

[Mrc]

I am just saying this has been an excuse for ages to stop development work for political reasons.

There is a Murshid di Billi ka mazaar right on the main highway for a reason.

the statue this guy destroyed worth millions in USD. his brick house would fetch 1000s only... this was found in his back yard not on a highway or middle of an airbase...

he could have sold it and still kept the house if he wanted to.... but if i was him i probably buy a mension with several thousands acres of land .... may be in australia after selling it....

but hey thats just me...

why let 10s of millions stop you when you can starve the next day?

 

[HAIDER]

If you want to see the real tragedy of pakistan's history and its lost culture take this example,

View attachment 652136

This is Bhadrakali temple in Lahore (again read Lahor's history, very interesting right from the beginning)

and see how this temple is converted to a shop
View attachment 652138
check the dome on top, same from the top photo but without the pakistan national flag.... these kids have no idea about what they are doing and where they are....

you can search and see plenty of such examples..... do you know what is the significance of white color in your flag?

Atleast it is flag of Pakistan , not flag of any religious organization, unlike India.

 

[drumstick]

I fail to see the equivalence you are trying desperately to draw between a disused Mandir in Pakistan being used for shops, houses or whatever and some kind of criminal destruction of an active holy site. Yes, I'd like to see an ancient holy site preserved as cultural legacy but sadly, Pakistan isn't awash with funds to look after all its ancient monuments - I wish it was.

This is disrepair and neglect, not wanton destruction.

why its a desperate attempt? actually you did not realized that changing the temple to a shop, not allowing a community to use their religious place is worst than what you are trying to bring to the table.

i also pointed earlier that only Saidpur temple is functioning and all other are closed for devotees... why? did you see the video of a person forcibly destroying the islamabad temple base and someone giving azaan from that same place where temple was to be constructed.... also some people were telling to kill a cow on that place so no Hindu will construct a temple there?

this is happening in 2020 July as we speak, what is this? why a community is marginalized so much?

the place that you pointed out was also erected on a destroyed temple.... with proper evidence and legal battle it was changed.... the claim on that place was since last 500 years....

but people want to show one example and shrug off thousands in their own land which is not a good practice...

if Hindu structures are your problem, what you have to say about Hagia Sofya? this is happening everywhere you just beed to keep your eyes and ears open... then oppose such acts publicly...

as i said earlier we have seen many pakistanis supporting temple construction and we personally thanked all of them... they also understand what im trying to say so why cant you?

 

[El Sidd]

This is why we are a jahil qom.

or too clever?

the statue this guy destroyed worth millions in USD. his brick house would fetch 1000s only... this was found in his back yard not on a highway or middle of an airbase...

he could have sold it and still kept the house if he wanted to.... but if i was him i probably buy a mension with several thousands acres of land .... may be in australia after selling it....

but hey thats just me...

why let 10s of millions stop you when you can starve the next day?

Is it your property?

Its worthless for the locals who live there.

 

[drumstick]

Atleast it is flag of Pakistan , not flag of any religious organization, unlike India.

i dont understand your point, there are no national flags on religious structures in India like this one which sits on very top of the temple dome....