-Caveat Lector- Blowing statues Vs satanic savagery. by Abid Ullah Jan The recent decision of the World Food Programme (WFP) to stop a $12 million bread distribution program for 300,000 people in Kabul, unless the Taliban halts restrictions on hiring women, confirms to the sceptics that the Taliban's decision to destroy Buddha statues was far less "fanatical" than the decisions taken by the US, its allies and UN agencies, on almost daily basis. Keeping nations under siege through different kinds of sanctions and then forcing them to either accept diktats for food or face starvation has been proved to be the dominant theory of the New World Order. WFP's decision in this context boils down to the fact that the Taliban destroyed stone statues without blackmailing any one into doing anything against their will. However, the rest of the world is killing Afghans with the objective of forcing them into submission. If they want bread, they need to accept values and ways of living of the donors. The WFP story doesn't seem to be too convincing anyway. According to Reuters the Taliban Information Minister Qudratullah Jamal confirmed on April 4, 2001 that there was "no objection from [the Taliban] side against the WFP survey." The WFP Deputy Country Director Peter Goosens then suddenly appeared on the scene unsatisfied and threatening. He asked for more women and their more active involvement. Goosens said between 600 and 700 women would be necessary to complete the survey, which he called a "huge exercise," over a two-month period. The WFP mentioned in its Emergency Report No. 12 of 2001 that more than 1.5 million needy Afghans could face severe food shortages in the next few months. It means that WFP has now abandoned them just because they couldn't recruit enough women in its programme. It needs no great wisdom to understand that bread is neither something that the Afghans would stock unnecessarily nor could it be stocked for too long. It is also insane to assume that men would eat all the bread distributed by WFP bakeries and women and children would be simply forced by the "barbarians" to watch them filling their stomach. The survey might be necessary and participation of women in it would also be required, but it certainly is not as big an alternative-less issue to start starving the already dying Afghans. Does the WFP want to tell the Afghan that it cares much for their women that they are willing to starve them to death? Or it is another way to say: if you want bread, you have to dance to our tunes; you stop dancing and we stop feeding (conditional aid); the whole world cares for the stone statues but no one cares for your dying a slow death in millions. The international silence over WFP's decision is in total contrast to the hue and cry that we witnessed as a result of the Taliban's pledge to destroy all the statues in Afghanistan. The latest twists and turns give us an opportunity to revisit the Buddha issue which provided editorial writers with many of their favourite indignation-producing elements: an obvious villain, an evil deed, a foreign setting, and the cachet of culture. Anyone who has been closely following the media reports coming out about closure of WFP Bakeries in Afghanistan can only come to the conclusion that the Western nations, including the UN agencies, care more about ancient relics than human lives. The love for relics, too, was just a trick to justify further tightening the noose around the Taliban's neck. At the time of Bamiyan issue, the international media dutifully reported the outpouring of grief and anger over the threatened statues, as one headline read, "Worldwide horror as Afghan Taliban begin smashing ancient statues". But there was no "worldwide horror" or "international outrage" when UN officials announced that more than 260 people have died in displacement camps in northern Afghanistan where an additional 117,000 people are living in miserable conditions, nor is there any concern over WFP's closure of bakeries in Kabul. The closure is justified in the name of women because it wants the women to be employed but no one seems to care that most of the deceased so far have been children under the age of five and women. Perhaps the only consolation in all of this is that the Afghan women may never know how much the world cared for two statues and their "rights" to throw off hijab and how little it cared for their food, shelter and well being. Such incidents are good opportunities to expose the prevailing hypocrisy in international affairs, policy making and media reporting. A piece in Britain's Observer placed the Taliban's "heritage terrorism" in historical context: "Smashing images is as old as human hatred." From the Old Testament through the Reformation, world wars, and the fall of the Soviet Union, statues have gone under the hammer. But what are the Taliban's motivations? The author wrongly identified two aims: "One is nationalist as much as religious. It is to invent a completely new, completely untrue past for Afghanistan, in which no trace of any other religion or empire or regime apart from their own can be found. . The second motive is a mixture of revenge and reproach. The Taliban leaders are hurt by the West's disgust with them. They know the rich West cares desperately about the archaeological heritage of Afghanistan; this is a way to hit back." [1] This simply reflects the guilty conscience of the Western analysts for the double standards followed both in political decisions and reporting the ground situation. They should rather ask: what are the motives of world powers who are bent upon keeping the Afghans on death bed with relief aid and no assistance, whatsoever, for rehabilitation, reconstruction and development. An op-ed in the Independent of London declared that one should not "become so absorbed in mourning these ancient stones that one forgets what the Taliban is doing every day to the people of Afghanistan-especially the women. . [Y]ou cannot expect the people of Afghanistan to worry about what the Taliban is doing to old stones when you see what it is doing to them." [2] In fact, the ground realities in the wake of western antagonism towards the Taliban make us forget the stone statues, particularly when we think about what the Western nations and the UN agencies are doing to Afghans under the guise of sanctions on their leadership. Even Dawn of Karachi reported that the Pakistani government twice implored the Taliban government to reconsider its plans, but the appeals "seem to have fallen on deaf ears." It concluded: "[I]t would appear that the Taliban are cutting at their own roots and that they are renouncing their own historical and cultural past. Islam is a religion of harmony and peaceful coexistence among various communities. Buddha was an apostle of peace and non-violence. Certainly he deserves better treatment than what he has hitherto received at the hands of the blind zealots in Afghanistan."[3] The author could see living Buddha in the stone statues, but not the dying Afghans at the hands of Western policies that keep Afghanistan in perpetual chaos. All rebuilding and rehabilitation efforts have been hampered by their unrelenting support to the still remaining warlords in the north and the inhuman UN sanctions. Those who hastily declared the Taliban act violated Islam's teachings on religious tolerance, probably had no time to notice that the issue of religious freedom is interpreted differently for Afghanistan, Pakistan, China, or Saudi Arab for that matter. The real question to ask was: Why the whole world must gang up on the Taliban if they tell UNESCO about its absurdity to allocate $100 million for renovating the statues at a time when people in Afghanistan are starving to death? Despite the Taliban's repeated requests, none of the donor agencies is prepared to provide any funds for establishing primary schools for girls or establishing separate education facilities for women at Kabul University, or initiate some long-term development activity. Handouts with a lot of strings attached is not the solution to Afghan misery (conditional aid). Even if we accept that what the Taliban have done is one of the greatest losses to the visual culture of the world, still this is not the only such act in the recent past. In India alone, there has been the destruction of the Akal Takht and the Babri Masjid. This activity of destruction as catharsis is an old one. The `potlach' ceremonies of mass destruction of goods by Amerindians in North-East America, or the mass destruction of edible matter and aromatic herbs as in the huge yagnas of Vedic rituals, the visarjan or drowning of images of gods and goddesses in rivers after festivals or the Jain abhishek ceremonies are more manageable examples of this. Besides the demolition of Babri Masjid should the "international community" also forget, burning alive of Graham Staines, torching of churches and rampant discrimination against the lower castes in India? Irrespective of the Talibans' decision about the Buddha or women's job with UN agencies, WFP's decision to stop bakeries production is just a symptom of the root causes none of which is associated with the Taliban's rule or Osama 's presence on the Afghan soil. The root cause is Islam and the American motive to keep Afghanistan destabilised as long as it could not be turned into a permanent satellite state like Pakistan or other Muslim countries. It is, thus, wrong to associate the misery of the Afghan people either with the Taliban or their decision to destroy ancient statues. The Afghan people are paying the price for the Taliban's refusal to accept external diktats, not for violating international norms and laws. Some Indian writers like V.P. Mani blame the Taliban for violating international obligations relating to international humanitarian law, protection of cultural property and international human rights law."[4] Here the question arises: did the US commanders in the Persian Gulf War strike a balance between the principles of humanity and the requirements of military necessity, when they were targeting historical sites in Iraq? Did they take all necessary steps . to spare, as far as possible, buildings dedicated to religion, art, science, or charitable purposes, historic monuments? The answer is an obvious "No. " Along with their allies, the US and UK destroyed antiquities and relics far more precious and ancient to the world than these Buddhist statues. And more important is the fact that British army used the same Buddha as target practice during Anglo-Afghan Wars.[5] An open-minded analysis of the pre and post-statues destruction period shows that the incident was blown out of proportion by powerful propaganda of mainstream media. This machine could make the demolition of some stone artefacts the biggest issue in the world. However, it failed to take notice of the dying Afghans inside and outside Afghanistan. To the same media demolition of homes in Palestine, mosques in India and the Balkans, sufferings and killings of people in Kashmir, Iraq, Chechnya, and Palestine are trivial matters. It would be interesting to imagine the handling of sanctions and starvation issues by the same media machine had they been enforced against the US and its allies. Only then, we would have seen that killing the starving human beings is far more criminal than destroying a few stone statues. The statues were called "a legacy of humanity" that needed to be saved at the cost of humanity. Is not condemning whole nations to starvation, death and destruction under the auspices of UN a regression into medieval barbarism? Is the systematic killing of thousands of people in besieged nations like Afghanistan and Iraq a sacrilege to humanity? Isn't it the US, its allies and India that first qualifies for such terminologies used against the Taliban? The real issue is neither the Taliban nor the Bamiyan Buddha. Both are useful only as tools for whipping up the western frenzy that is expected to serve at least two purposes. First, it helps to divert the public attention from the burning issues at home. Preserving stone statues is deemed a more urgent priority than lifting the sanctions, feeding the hungry or clothing the naked. Second, it helps to establish the perverse logic by which people can be degraded into tools to serve the hidden agenda of their pseudo-human rights ventriloquists. Though the US and its allies' attitude towards Afghanistan is a frontal insult to human dignity, their imperial policies succeed in retaining the blind loyalty of the western masses to the inhuman policies. This is achieved mainly by playing up the popular craving for aggression and violence that is endemic in an age of spiritual decay. American rule has deep psychological roots. The popular honeymoon with global power will last until its destructive scope is fully played out. In the end, it is important to realise that the US and its allies are not just beasts that prowls at a distance. They are a potent reality at work in every international constituency that is monopolised by vested interests. The prime anti-Islam motive, so to speak, is to foster a cultic outlook in order to anchor the people on a contrived illusion. Of course, all Muslims and non-Muslims alike must decry and discredit the super-power syndrome. It is a phenomenon programmed for destruction and endemic under-development in the Muslim world. The US appears to be bent on validating the thesis of its scholars about the "clash of civilisations.'' Fortunately, acts of the US and its allies' are exposing their intentions and are proving the thesis wrong that the Taliban's "act of vandalism" would be detrimental to the larger interests of the entire Islamic world unless the governments and clergy of those countries speak out strongly against the Taliban. The US, instead has besmirched the name of UN; all the UN agencies will also come to be associated as tools in public perception with this senseless iconoclasm. It is also a clear warning to all about what may happen in rest of the Islamic world if imperial intentions of the US are not vigorously curbed. Everybody agrees, even some of the closest allies, that the US is definitely going over the top in wanting to overcome all resistance to its global control. Enforcing inhuman sanctions through the UN, blowing weaknesses of the opponents to unimaginable proportions, and not hesitating even targeting the displaced and dispossessed, one doesn't know if a strong reaction from its staunch allies will be enough to stop this insanity. Due to the US and its allies' policies, a major international catastrophe still looms large in Afghanistan, on the scale of the Orwellian nightmare of Ethiopia and the Sudan in 1984. Few want to know it and, some Muslim leaders apart, the mass media merely yawn. People in Afghanistan are suffering and dying. Everyone from Kofi Annan to the Sheikh of Al-Azhar , who were busy trying to save statues in Afghanistan with an energy, which mocks the thousands of dead famine victims in the country, are silent at the Afghan misery. The fate of giant Buddhas was blown to an extent that almost everyone was energised. There is, however, no word of kindness for those who are starving and WFP has closed down its bakeries and UNHCR has refused to set up camps on Afghan soil. The relief workers who came through the gates of Kabul are falling upon the society like wolverines. Blowing up Buddhas is not their major crime; their crime is not following US dictates. Blowing statues is a petty offence compared to the satanic savagery the US and its allies are systematically inflicting on one of the poorest, most God-forsaken countries in the world. (June 26, 2001). [1] http://www.observer.co.uk/international/story/0,6903,446121,00.html [2] www.independent.co.uk/argument/commentators/2001-03/whitaker040301/shtml [3] http://www.dawn.com/2001/03/04/ed.htm#2 [4] Source: 'The Hindu", Tuesday, March 6, 2001, Edit-page article. [5] Statues, The Propaganda Machine, and The Ummah: The Day After By Khalid Baig, Islamic News and Information Network, March 17, 2001 2:26 PM <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance�not soap-boxing�please! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'�with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright frauds�is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. 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