Kabul : Taliban a. changed the statue Thousand The leader was declared a national martyr by the previous government, whose replica Quran, bamiyan Residents said on Thursday – they warned that a move could trigger violence.
The original statue depicts Abdul Ali Mazari, the leader of the mostly Shia minority when he was a Taliban prisoner during his first term in power.
The statue was removed with rocket-propelled grenades shortly after the Taliban returned to power in August, in an incident residents of the city in central Afghanistan blamed on radical Islamists.
The Taliban’s strict interpretation of Islam forbids depicting the human form in paintings and sculpture – and in extreme cases printed photographs.
Many businesses have removed or covered billboards and posters depicting people since the group’s takeover.
“Yesterday, they completely removed the idol and replaced it with a replica of the Quran,” said Abdul Danishyar, a civil society activist in Bamiyan.
“They are trying to erase history from Bamiyan, people are going to react violently to it,” he told AFP.
Mazari’s statue stood in the central square of Bamiyan, where the Taliban blew up two colossal 1,500-year-old Buddha statues in 2001 – just before the US invasion that removed them.
Danishyar said the square named after Mazari has been renamed “Military Road”.
Abdul Ali Shafaq, a member of the Bamiyan provincial council, told AFP he would speak to Taliban officials and urge them to withdraw the move.
“It’s a very sensitive issue, it can trigger reactions,” he said.
“People in Bamiyan love Mazari, they were building a new statue to replace the partially destroyed one.”
Mazari, an anti-Taliban militia leader, was killed in 1995 after being taken prisoner by the Taliban.
He said he shot one of his guards after he tried to seize the gun while being transferred to the helicopter.
He was officially named “For Martyr”. national unity of afghanistan“by deposed president” Ashraf Ghani in 2016.
The predominantly Shia Hazara community, which makes up about 10 percent of Afghanistan’s 38 million people, has long been persecuted by Sunni extremists, such as the Islamic State group, in a country torn by ethnic and religious divisions.
The original statue depicts Abdul Ali Mazari, the leader of the mostly Shia minority when he was a Taliban prisoner during his first term in power.
The statue was removed with rocket-propelled grenades shortly after the Taliban returned to power in August, in an incident residents of the city in central Afghanistan blamed on radical Islamists.
The Taliban’s strict interpretation of Islam forbids depicting the human form in paintings and sculpture – and in extreme cases printed photographs.
Many businesses have removed or covered billboards and posters depicting people since the group’s takeover.
“Yesterday, they completely removed the idol and replaced it with a replica of the Quran,” said Abdul Danishyar, a civil society activist in Bamiyan.
“They are trying to erase history from Bamiyan, people are going to react violently to it,” he told AFP.
Mazari’s statue stood in the central square of Bamiyan, where the Taliban blew up two colossal 1,500-year-old Buddha statues in 2001 – just before the US invasion that removed them.
Danishyar said the square named after Mazari has been renamed “Military Road”.
Abdul Ali Shafaq, a member of the Bamiyan provincial council, told AFP he would speak to Taliban officials and urge them to withdraw the move.
“It’s a very sensitive issue, it can trigger reactions,” he said.
“People in Bamiyan love Mazari, they were building a new statue to replace the partially destroyed one.”
Mazari, an anti-Taliban militia leader, was killed in 1995 after being taken prisoner by the Taliban.
He said he shot one of his guards after he tried to seize the gun while being transferred to the helicopter.
He was officially named “For Martyr”. national unity of afghanistan“by deposed president” Ashraf Ghani in 2016.
The predominantly Shia Hazara community, which makes up about 10 percent of Afghanistan’s 38 million people, has long been persecuted by Sunni extremists, such as the Islamic State group, in a country torn by ethnic and religious divisions.
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