Lets Destroy The Bamiyan Buddhas!

FRKhan - liked your write-up, but what do you mean by hoping for the sake of Islam we destroy the Taliban before they destroy Islam??? From the rest of your article, I figured you agree that the Taliban have already given Islam a bad name. On one side I hear you say the West is over-reacting, and on the other side, you think the Taliban are at fault. I might be wrong and perhaps the article was just too long for me, so lost it`s purpose with me. It`s me not you.

-zensufi-

The destruction of Historical heritage is a mindless act, regardless by whom or where. If only the suffering masses of Afghans could get such press. Ever wonder why they don`t? They`re not photogenic, no five star hotels in Kabul...

That the West and it`s new Johnny came lately ``natural allies`` foot soldiers are hypocrates is not news. That a Huntintonian element is exerting itself is not news. This element is strongest in the Western press and in the West is renown for it`s liberal secural bias. Those days may soon be over, there`s a new sheriff in town. We just may get some balance. But they`re not gonna go without a fight. They know and understand, the only force in their way is Islam. You can be sure that the burning of Qurans will not make it to the editorial pages of the International Herald Tribune, The New York Times, The Washington Post or The Guardian, The Economist, The Atlantic monthly, Dissent, Challenge or Al-Ahram for that matter. This will all be coincidence, after all, they can`t be on top of everything can they? Plus, who gives a rats behind?

Make no mistake, Liberal secularist are a religion, their diety is Stateism, their creed is domination of all global systems. Their prayer is ``God is dead in the West and we will kill him in the rest of the world``. They are as closed minded and bigoted a bunch as the Present Taliban.

Be assured, the world in not as blind as it may sometimes seem, and remember ``you can`t fool all the people, all the time``.

God lives, God rules!(not necessarily political systems - But most definitely, the hearts and minds of men and women)

F.R.Khan.

Good work on bringing into light the western hypocrisy on the issue but the points emphasized in your article are too ambigous. It would have been better if you made them more clearer. I do agree that west uses every gesture from taliban be it friendly, naive or plainly defying to its baggering against Islam and its values.

The interpretation of Islam by Taliban has several inconsistancies and reflects their mindset in grip of a self proclaimed liberator syndrome. Their rigidity makes them prone to dogmatic thinking in every sphere and prevents realization of the damage they are bringing to a relatively rational spirit of Islam.

But the Taliban are not alone to be blamed. They were nurtured by their direct patrons in Pakistan Army and indirect patrons in the CIA. To me they are just naive people falling victims of the international power game after the end of cold war. The Pakistani establishment is playing with fire as they back the militia and we are beginning to see signs of fallout in form of mushroom growth of so called Jehadis and fanatics. It is high time for us to realize that we cannot become the chess masters of the region while all our policies are dictated by halls in pentagon.

Ylh,

Take a hold of yourself. I am also surprised to see those posts. The system has screwed up the messages. I posted only one message altogether. There are five in my name.

Pleas rein in your tongue. You do see the sign below the message signed by someone else, don`t you. I have noticed before in Chowk tha sometimes if you post simultaneiously it replaces one persons post with another person`s. Or it could totally be different kind of screw up. They are not MINE.

Re: Macgupta

You Sir, are a fine one to talk about ethics, and morality! Honestly, If i were you and belong to your miserable lot, I would shut the * * * * * up and sit and cry at my misfrotune, as oppsoed to trying to make some sort of conversations at the expense of being labelled as a stinking hypocrite.

Reda and weep, at your lot`s ignorance and at your theocracys having blinded people into such submissions as below.

Asim

Three children sacrificed at Hindu temple: 10 held

SRINAGAR-At least 10 people of a remote Indian village including a Hindu temple Sadhu have been arrested for masterminding the sacrifice of three children to appease the temple goddess and the illiterate father of the ill-fated children.

Bodies lying in pool of blood of Mukesh (6), his two sisters, Rani Lakshmi (3) and Rani Prem (2), were recovered from the outskirts of a temple in Jodhpur District in Rajasthan province Thursday night. All the three had been first strangulated and then stabbed by their father and the temple priest for bestowing richness upon them by the goddess of the temple.

The police said that a poverty-stricken Sohan Lal was lured by the temple priest that he should sacrifice all his children to the goddess of the temple known as ``Ram Deora Temple`` and turn into a rich man overnight.

An illiterate Sohan Lal took away the children from his wife on the plea that they would have a ``darshan`` of the goddess and be blessed. Fearing some mischief, Sohan Lal`s wife first resisted the suggestion saying that the youngest daughter who was only two years old did not need to be taken to a temple for any ``darshan`` because of her being an innocent infant.

Police further said that heads of all the three slain children were kept towards the direction of the temple so that the goddess of the temple was pleased. Ten people including the children`s father, the priest and some more people associated with the temple were taken into custody. A senior police officer also said that there might be some more murders having been committed by these temple people who occasionally drink blood of human beings. All the three slain children were having toys in their hands as they lay dead

amen!!

Excellent article. Could you send this to the editor at the New York Times. I`d like to see if that biased newspaper would publish such a mind opening article. I doubt it.

I did not go through your entire rambling article since I had seen enough by the time I got to ``The international arguments of moral outrage against the Taliban’s actions and its cries of protest are nothing more than hollow meaningless self promoting expressions of political correctness foisted upon the world by a few self chosen champions and purveyors of western arrogance and neo-fascist cultural imperialism``

I think, sir, that you are a fool and I dont understand which school for the mentally retarded you went to before they decided that you were to screwed up to be capable of learning anything. Like the editor or the Frontier Times, I assume the chowk editor was flying close to the ceiling of his office with the help of a few chemicals when he let your article slide by.

I have a question for all the people who point fingers at the hypocrisy of the world and say that they are equally or more horrified by starving Afghans than the Taliban destroying the Bamiyan Buddhas, why is the world speaking up only now.

I don`t recall seeing any of you speaking up about starving Afghans prior to the Taliban edict for destruction of the statues.

-Arun the Infidelator

I would agree with one part of this article, and disagree with the other. It is true that in terms of destroying human lives (outside their own borders), and stealing national treasures, no one can come close to the acheivements of the, ``Western nations,`` in the past two centuries. More people in the world are killed by a bullet made in the USA than by any other piece of armament. And since WWII, the USA has used more weaponry and destroyed more people and buildings outside its own borders than any other country. And of course, their is colonisation and enslaving the millions of our, ``uncivilized`` forefathers. Unfortunately this is how is works, i.e. the most powerful countries always do the most damage. Because they can. So it is quite hypocritical of them to all of a sudden attempt to become the symbols of virtue, on this issue.

At the same time, this does not mean it is correct to destroy these statues, for two reasons: Destruction in general is bad, unless it is done to create something better. Destruction of items of religious significance to any group, by a govt., for any reason, is a sign of ultimate backwardness and bigotry, as well as a sick mind.

The West is wrong in its holier than thou attitude, and the Taliban are wrong in destroying the statues.

Not just the article, but so many of the responses are :

We are not responsible for our actions ! We are victims ! Two wrongs make a right !

Everything is relative ! The Taliban had 250 women flogged on a single day for violating their burqa rule. But they ought to have the same stature as Nelson Mandela.

Everything is absolute ! It is the West that is responsible for the dour face of Islam ! All that poor innocent boy Osama bin Laden did was to grow a beard.

My ignorance defines the world ! The Bamiyan Buddhas are worthless, nobody ever paid them attention ! The Archaelogical Survey of India spent several years and many rupees restoring these.

Since there are no Buddhists in Afghanistan, it is OK ! I suppose destroying the Babri Masjid would be OK if we first drove out all Muslims from India ? Or need it just be Ayodhya ? Or need it just be a 10-meter buffer around the masjid ?

Sorry folks, you are too far fallen even to be piteable.

-Arun the Infidelator

Ferozk

Help me understand...

While the Taliban destroys the statues, should the World community just shut up and watch it? Is that what u are saying?

A simple `Yes` or `No` would suffice.

Thanks,

---SN

Chowk Staff,

Make a note of this. ``Ram`` a fundoo from Rutgers is posing as me!

Kindly put an end to this nonsense, because the flood that these people are going to unleash is unprecedented, and it will serve to bring down chowk.

Oh wow, so you can register as Ram and post as me... I am impressed! No wonder people think Rutgers doesnot produce good scholars!

Always love reading Mr. Khan`s articles. I do think there is a bit of a reach in some of the comparison he makes. Yet, there is something for everyone - Muslims, non-Muslims, westerners and easterners -- to think about.

My fear is that we will all take from this article what we want to and leave out what may be more important to correcting our peculiar blind spots.

But that is not the author`s burden.

Good job, Mr. Khan.

* * * * * * *

In a more lighthearted vein, only you could have written something that both Farzana Vershey and I can enjoy! You should come to India, throw the BJP and the Sahabuddins out, and become our prime minister :)

Hello Mr. F. Khan,

Your argument is ‘the condemnation by the western countries’ is unjustified. You don’t care to justify the destruction of artefacts and relics by Teleban on their own merits of human values. For a moment let’s forget about the western countries. The statues of Bamiyan may not have religious value to the Teleban. They may just be stones. But they have immense human values. It’s their history and our history. A civilized person would respect his heritage no matter how he disagrees with his ancestors. It would be hard to think in human terms for the ones who’s minds are poisoned by religious fanaticism and the brains are replaced by edicts.



You go on rambling why didn’t the western condemn so called ‘similar events’ that happened elsewhere. All you examples are pathetic. You scavenged for these examples to attack the western countries. Many countries you quoted were on a war-foot. No one ever supported the Serbians on their destructions. NATO attacked the Serbians to bring them in line. No one supported the communists Russians or the Germans during World-War II. You example of Taj is nauseating.

The western countries did a lot of mistakes. They killed six million Jews in concentrations camps. If any similar event happens elsewhere, are you saying they should not speak up and condemn. Their voice is clear. Please don’t do the mistakes that we did. We humans have improved a lot and evolved between the beginning and the end of the 20th century. You are stuck in the 7nth century and do not want to evolve with the rest of the human species and even want to regress from what you evolved.

At the end of your article you have inserted a sentence “Let us hope for the sake of Islam that we destroy the Taliban before they destroy Islam in their misguided vision of what constitutes as the true devotion to, and implementation of, Islam” which has no relevance to the rest of the article. You are a slimy character and you too want to distance from Teleban because deep down in your heart you know Telebans you support are inhumans.

What a pathetic article! What kind of perverted people are living in this 21st century!

In response to Feroz (Reply # 5)
Dear Feroz:

I wonder if you have really answered my question. The theme of hypocrisy is indeed the lynchpin of your article.

Interpretations do indeed vary from person to person and from one group to another. I personally prefer to focus upon the universal message of Islam (my interpretation) and of other religions. This approach brings me closer to people of all existing faiths. Hence, in my personal view, the Talibans are uncritically making use of the teachings/practices of Islam/Muslims/etc. which may or may not be what the spirit of Islam really intends to establish.

We all know how the world works. You are right that the Talibans will not care about the so-called global community which, in my view, is essentially divided, hierarchical, and unfair. As a sovereign people, the Afghanis are not likely to reciprocate unless coerced. But, in my view, coercion fails to pave the way for the establishment of a just order.

Are we really heading toward a global community that is free, democratic, fair, humanistic, and peaceful? If not, then what do we need to do?

Sincerely, Bilal Ahmad