Lets Destroy The Bamiyan Buddhas!

firstslip #88

Tauba tauba!!

Boy, are you really a Pakistani? Are you a Hindu from Pakistan?!

If you are, I am happy for Pakistan. I have used the unfortunate fact that there are no Hindu Pakistanis anywhere here as a stick to beat up on Pakistan. I will take that ilzaam back.

You have noted something that I think is at the core of Hinduism - something that has kept me a Hindu despite much bitterness I have sometimes felt toward the actually existing larger Hindu society.

Hinduism in essence is not about a person, God, gods, or book. It is an expanded state of mind available to any human being who is willing to rise above his or her narrow vision of circumscribed humanity. Anyone who sees humanity as humanity rather than an irreconcilable mass of sinners and saints is at heart a Hindu, no matter which god, God, or Prophet they turn to.

No one knows better than me that in practice that ideal is never achieved. But at least that is the ideal of modern Hinduism. And it is a better ideal than would have been available to me any where else.

Asfand #75 ``What they are doing in their country is OK. We can not pass judgement that what they are doing is wrong just because we think that they are wrong.``

The Taliban forced their way to power, and have shown no indication that they need to be elected. 4 million Afghans have voted with their feet and left the country - there are 50,000 in Hamburg alone, I was told today by a man who used to live in that city. Hundreds of children died of cold and starvation. Even as the Taliban are making waves destroying statues, thousands of Afghans are dying of starvation and cold in the North. The Taliban may seem crazy, but they are crazy like a fox: easy to divert everyone`s attention from the mess the have made by showing off their ``Islamic fervor`` (actually it is satanic, nothing to do with Islam, what they are doing). The foggy sense of morality of many well-off people in Pakistan (and your post and FR KHans article are good examples) is the reason why countries like Pakistan and Afghanistan (and India too) continue to be insensitive to the worst kind of injustices (helpless and innocent women languishing in jails, the rich fleecing the country, and so on) while remaining to slights to their precious pride due to articles in Western newspapers. The US is not perfect by any means, but imperfections are freely debated and reported and actually fixed here. In Pakistan and other such countries, the tendancy is to hide imperfections and to ridicule anyone who brings them out or to question their motives.

in response to # 77

.... now that we have all vented - i would like to try a different tact to see if we can tame these mad mullahs :

Dear Omar, won`t you come out to play

Dear Omar, greet the brand new day

The sun is up, the sky is blue

It`s beautiful and so are you

Dear Omar won`t you come out and play

Dear Omar open up your eyes

Dear Omar see the sunny skies

The wind is low the birds will sing

that you are part of everything

Dear Omar won`t you open up your eyes?

Look around round

Look around round round

Look around

.......... but i guess mullah omar doesn`t like the beatles and he doesn`t want to play with us .... he and his friend osama have other plans ......

Re: Taliban

Imagine how much foreign exchange Afghanistan can earn if Taliban becomes less extreme in its views and develops the sites with those imposing statues of Buddha as tourist spots. The same money could then be used to rebuild a war-ravaged Afghanistan. This then begs the question: What does the Taliban wish to convey by destroying the statues? As far as I am concerned, their action does not make any economic sense.

sridhar

Re: reply # 77

``If he feels that too many crimes are committed on Muslims in India, then he can leave and go to an Islamic state``.

Ali1,

What is wrong with the above statement? In India, suffering by poor is a common feature. Only a sick person can give it a religious twist. A poor hindu suffers as much as the poor muslim. The majority community considers the likes of Imam Bukhari or Syed Shahabuddin only as a nuisance value. The muslims in India are without a good leader and as i had said in some other thread, the secular hindus are defending their interests most vociferously.

sridhar

Dear Feroz:

I was surprised to see this piece came from you. Your analogies of Taleban`s destruction do not really apply as many readers pointed out. Do you think that this desperate act of Taleban will really help their cause? I doubt it, since whole world, not only West, condemned it. As one reader pointed out, do not forget the protests of all South-East and Far-East Asian countries including China condemning the act.

Regards

cheraym

Re: Temporal #62,

A hail mary is actually a pretty good call on first & 10 on your own 37 with 27 ticks left.

In a first down situation the opposition would probably still rush four and have a nickel package with a `spy` linebacker expecting a 15 yard `out` to the sidelines with the spy backer just in case the offence goes down the middle (especially if they have a timeout left).

The conventional wisdom is to reserve the dime package for 3rd down and go `full prevent` with 7 DBs (the hands team) and three rushers on fourth down because you are expecting a hail mary.

This is precisely why a hail mary would surprise the hell out of a defense on first down. Typically a QB can throw 65 yards - 70 yards if he really heaves it. If he gets out of the pocket and scrambles around for about 5 seconds and launches it, by the time the ball arrives it should be about 3 yds deep into the end zone. If your receiver can cover 65 yards in 6.5 seconds its a ball game. The key is to slightly over throw so that either your guy gets it or it`s an incompletion, which will basically function as a timeout.

The keys in the scenario above are two. One, that the defense not be prepared with a full prevent (with a DB working the goal line at scrimmage) and two that the QB can buy about 5 seconds (this is why the most amazing hail marys in the history are by Flutie & Stewart, it was their scrambling ability that made the plays).

Additionally on your side of the border where the end zones are 20 yards deep, a tip drill hail mary (such as the one Michael Westbrook caught) would be much more easy.

In summation therefore... the reason why he`s grinning on the sidelines is because he just beat you!

Latif Chappu.

P.S: In coaching the basic concept is this: Firstly, you pick the best & most viable play for a certain situation and secondly; you simultaneously surprise the other team with your choice. The above example epitomizes such a play. The opposition certainly does not expect a hail mary on first down and it also is the most viable play since your other alternative is to take the 15 yard out (which they expect anyway so it may be tough) and then with 19 ticks to go try a 50 yd Hail Mary (which they also expect and will be really unlucky to concede).

If the above play doesn`t work, you still get to try it again albeit with no element of surprise.

It`s the perfect call man, no wonder he`s smiling.

P.P.S: BTW, who is `he`? And also now that I have literally commented on your football analogy, may I have the plesure of having its allegorical significance explained to me?

I would like to pose a question to many of you .Do you condone the sale of such statues and other things done before the Talibans advent?Antique smuggling was a big business till recently .In fact it was believed much of Afghani heritage would have been wiped out by scavengers .

The Taliban are committing a wrong in veery sense , ethically , Islamically ..even according to traditions .After all Mahmud of Ghazanavi and many other left those statues .But what do you expect from the Taliban?They are basically the lost children of Afghanistan ..they have no concept of history ..of grandiose concepts ..they are basically a rabble of people .Who wish to bring order ( under their own concept of what order is ) after havin fought against others who attempted to impose their concept of order on them.There are historical precendents of such kind of people ...the French revolution ..or the Iranian ..the idea is to constructively engage them ..and not to isloate them ..

Folks on the net can listen to the NPR Fresh Air with Terry Gross interviews re: Afghanistan at

http://www.npr.org/ramfiles/fa/20010307.fa.ram

Director of the Center for Afghanistan Studies at the University of Omaha, Thomas E. Gouttierre

Last week the Taliban, the Islamic Militants ruling Afghanistan issued a decree to demolish all pre-Islamic religious images. Reportedly they have partially demolished the 175 feet and 120 feet seventh-century Buddhas 100 miles west of Kabul, considered two of the most important ancient works. A talk with the Director of the Center for Afghanistan Studies At the University of Omaha, Thomas E. Gouttierre . He also served on the United Nations Peacekeeping Mission to Afghanistan, and is the American specialist on Afghanistan, Tajikistan, and South Asia at the meetings of the US-Russion Task Force on Regional Conflicts.

Listen to Journalist Sebastian Junger

He traveled to Afghanistan to profile Ahmad Shah Massoud, (known as the Lion of Panjshir), the legendary leader of the guerrilla war against the Soviets, who is now fighting the Taliban. Junger traveled with photographer Reza Deghati who spent several years covering the war there. Junger’s article The Lion in Winter appears in the March/April issue of National Geographic’s Adventure magazine. It’s also the subject of a National Geographic Explorer program Into the Forbidden which aired march 4 on CNBC.

-Arun the Infidelator

Farzana #52

Every Indian has a right to say or believe what appeals to him or her. Just because I disagree with almost everything you write, doesn`t mean I would call you a Jaapanee, Amkreekee, or Pakistanee.

To my mind, this is what makes India different from its neighbors and Indians a different people. Such freedoms are very hard to maintain, but in India, we do make an effort.

I will root for any rational human being who thinks as a human being. If you make an effort, you will have my full support.

I am convinced that there is no other nation on earth that is more bigoted and intolerant than Hindoos.

Even on this website, Indian minority members have been told the following in as many words by the Hindoo interactors:

``If he feels that too many crimes are committed on Muslims in India, then he can leave and go to an Islamic state.`` --Surendra Jain

Note: Bajrang Dal and Shiv Sena are part of the government in India.

Indian Hindu Activists Rail Against Muslim Cleric; Protest, Paras 9-11)

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Hindu activists burned an effigy of India`s most prominent Muslim cleric Wednesday and condemned his offer to try to save ancient Buddhist statues from destruction by negotiating with Afghanistan`s ruling Taliban.

The radical Bajrang Dal group said that by equating Taliban actions with the demolition of a 16th-century Indian mosque in 1992, Syed Ahmed Bukhari had exposed ``the ugly side of Islam.``

Bukhari, head of New Delhi`s Jama Masjid mosque, said in a sermon Tuesday his offer was conditional on Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee conceding that the razing of the mosque by Hindu zealots eight years ago was a ``shameful act.``

``The government should arrest him and charge him with anti-national activities,`` Bajrang Dal National Convenor Surendra Jain said in a statement.

``If he feels that too many crimes are committed on Muslims in India, then he can leave and go to an Islamic state.``

Around 3,000 people were killed in communal riots sparked by the destruction of the mosque, which many devout Hindus believe to have been built on the birthplace of the god-king Ram.

Bukhari said he did not condemn the Taliban`s actions, and noted that when the Babri mosque was destroyed the Indian government responded to international criticism by saying it was an internal affair.

About 50 activists of the youth and student wing of the regional Hindu Shiv Sena party protested in the capital against Bukhari`s comments, burning a straw effigy of the cleric.

F R Khan Sahib

AS a GOPper like yourself, I am disappointed with the general tone of apologia that runs until the beginning of the last line in the article.

Barabarians like the Taleban understand only one language which may be spoken to them soon by the new President who seems to have a spine.

Greetings to All

It is a common practice among the people to think that they are correct and the rest are wrong. For example in Europe eating blood sausage is OK, similarly I have seen pork blood being sold in USA to be used in various foods. When I first saw pork blood being sold in USA to be used as food, I thought these guys are nuts, they are eating blood yuk yuk.

Years later I had an American friend whom I invited for dinner. One of the dishes was cow`s brain. He asked what it was and after knowing he told me that brain is not consumed in USA and it is highly unusual for an American to eat brain. And at that moment I thought whats wrong eating brain, it is delicious.

Later that night while think about brain-masala, it dawned on me that I had similar feelings about pork blood being sold as food.

In a nut shell if some people thinks that eating pork bolld is OK than I have no right to tell them not to eat it or STOP EATING THAT JUNK BECAUSE IT IS NOT CONSIDERED GOOD IN MY FRAME OF REFERENCE and vice versa.

Coming to the acts of Taliban: What they are doing in their country is OK. We can not pass judgement that what they are doing is wrong just because we think that they are wrong.

How about Taliban telling us in USA to start cutting hands of the thiefs. We will probably think that ``who the hell are Talibans telling us what to do.``

I think Taliban are probably thing the same for us.

Think about it......

Asfand Siddiqui

Sacramento CA

I think human beings are more important than idols.Human beings can be tansformed but idols cannot be.Did Lord Budha preach Idol Worshipping? Indeed not.After forty years of mediation, he just uttered `` The person who couldn`t achieve satisaction in this world can never be blessed.``.

Lets ponder upon the teachings of the great man instead of making hue and cry over the destruction of lifeless statues.

Millions of Afghans lost their lives during the war with Soviet Union.Millions of them disabled for their entire lies.They were than the heroes for the West.They are now enemeys coz they wanna live in their own way.Bare hypocracy.Isn`t it ?

Layman#47 has got it right.