The Buddha loses

Nitin, you were right. They came back.

MINGORA: Some unidentified militants blew up the historic statue of Buddha in Jihan Abad area of Swat district on Saturday.

The curator maintained that the statue belonged to 7th century A.D, and it was the most complete and inspiring symbol of Gandahara art. After the historic statues of Bamyan in Afghanistan, which were destroyed by the Taliban, the swat statue was the sole example of Buddhist cultural heritage.

“It was seven meters tall and 20 feet high from the land, showing Buddha in the condition of meditation. I don’t know what they want to achieve by such actions,” he added. Aqleem said he had reported the incident to the local police but he did not think that the police would be able to protect Buddhist cultural sites in swat as they themselves were the victims of terrorist attacks.[Militants blow up Buddha statue in Swat]