Abu Dhabi: A painting featuring the giant statue of Buddha in Bamiyan in Afghanistan is attracting the attention of visitors at an exhibition in Abu Dhabi as the world fights religious extremism. The Taliban had destroyed the more than 1,500-year-old statues in 2001 leading to worldwide outrage.
A young female Afghan artist Ommolbanin Shamsia Hassani has reflected that outrage in her work titled ‘Culture’ that stands out thanks to its contemporary relevance, among other paintings mostly depicting the exhibition theme “Kerala Green”.
Although Bamiyan Buddha does not conform to the “Kerala Green” theme, it symbolises the increasingly violent attacks on the cultural greenery that humanity preserved for ages against great odds.
The paintings made by Hassani and 34 other artists from South Asia at a camp in India, are being exhibited at India House, the Indian Ambassador’s residence in Abu Dhabi.
“Bamiyan province was known to the world for those ancient statues. Many tourists and academics used to visit Afghanistan only to see those monuments,” Fazlullah Reshteen, Deputy Chief of the Mission at the Embassy of Afghanistan in Abu Dhabi, told Gulf News.
He said the Afghan Government is seriously thinking about rebuilding the Buddha statues with the help of Japan. “It is just a hope because we cannot recreate the original monument,” Reshteen said.
A Wall Street Journal report on Wednesday said the Afghan government has asked the World Heritage Committee of Unesco for feedback on whether restoring one of the Buddhas is possible.
Civil society activists already plan to raise money for the statues’ reconstruction.
Shukria Neda, a Bamiyan resident, is campaigning for local people to donate at least two Afghanis (four US cents): one for each Buddha. “If we don’t have these statues, we don’t have a part of our history.”
For the first time, Unesco is planning to hold a large-scale international conference for Afghan officials, foreign experts and representatives of civil society to discuss the feasibility of rebuilding the statues. The conference is likely to take place in Japan next year.
The Buddha statues were carved from the cliffs more than 1,500 years ago, when Buddhism flourished in Afghanistan. Although the religion had disappeared in Afghanistan, the people of Bamiyan, mostly the ethnic Hazara minority, respected the statues as their historical heritage. But the Taliban got angry, thinking that people were worshipping Buddha.
They blew them up with explosives in 2001 because they considered them idols, and thus against their religion.
Kanwala Oberoi, an Indian businesswoman, said Taliban’s act created new borders. “The religions spread across the world when the borders of nations were not significant. Their act created more borders that restrict humanity,” she said looking at the painting.
