A priceless heritage in the form of a Buddha statue, which was discovered by accident while digging the foundation for a house in Pakistan’s Pashtun-dominated Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province’s Mardan district, was smashed and destroyed into pieces by local construction workers Saturday because they considered the relic to be unIslamic, drawing the ire of the authorities concerned. The workers felt that they were only doing their religious duty of destroying an idol.
Heart breaking.
A life sized statue of Buddha was discovered in a construction site in Takhtbhai, Mardan recently.
However, before the Archaeology dept was informed about it, the contractor had already broken it into pieces as the local molvi warned him that he would lose.. pic.twitter.com/nWHHzkOxe7— Ahsan Hamid Durrani (@Ahsan_H_Durrani) July 18, 2020
The statue was discovered in Mardan’s Takht Bhai area, which was a part of the Gandhara civilisation, while the workers were digging to lay the foundation for the under-construction house.
A video, which has since gone viral on social media, showed the construction workers smashing the Buddha statue using a sledgehammer and expressing their resentment against the unIslamic relic.
Local media quoted an official of the Pakistan tourism department, who said that the authorities have taken note of the incident and are looking into the matter.
Abdul Samad, director general of the archaeology department, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, said the authorities have located the area, where the incident occurred and those involved in vandalism would be held accountable and penalised. “We have located the area and we will have those involved arrested soon,” he said. He also added that the statue was completely destroyed by a local contractor and five of his workers.
Takht Bhai is known for its relics as it was an integral part of the Gandhara civilisation.
Excavated in 1836 for the first time, archaeologists have dug out hundreds of relics made of clay, stucco, and terracotta in the area.
PNN