UNESCO chief calls on Musharraf

By B. Muralidhar Reddy

ISLAMABAD, APRIL 6. The UNESCO chief, Mr. Koichiro Matsuura, today called on the Pakistani military ruler and Chief Executive, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, and discussed ways to `engage' the Taliban regime in Afghanistan in the wake of the recent destruction of the pre-Islamic artefacts by the militia.

Addressing a press conference later, the UNESCO chief emphasised the need to ensure that there was no `excessive isolation' of the Taliban regime though it was not recognised by the international regime.

However, he hastened to add that the engagement with the Taliban would have to be within the framework of the United Nations Resolutions which imposed stiff sanctions against it for failure to hand over the Saudi dissident, Osama bin Laden, and charges of abetting terrorism in the region.

Gen. Musharraf reiterated the Pakistan view that the best way to deal with the Taliban was engagement and not isolation.

Denouncing the destruction of artefacts, including the tallest Buddhist statues in the Bamiyan province, the UNESCO chief said his organisation would continue to keep in touch with the Taliban and the religious leaders.

The UNESCO was in the forefront of the international agencies in trying to persuade the Taliban to give up its decision on the destruction. The UNESCO Director-General even deputed a special envoy, Mr. Pierre Lafrance, to take up the matter with the authorities in Afghanistan. The envoy made a vain trip to Kandahar to persuade the Taliban supremo, Mullah Omar.

To a specific question, Mr. Matsuura said his organisation would endeavour, along with all those concerned, to take the remaining artefacts to some other country at least for the time being. He, however, did not elaborate how this would be achieved.

The destroyed artefacts were not on the UNESCO's World Heritage list as the past Governments had failed to respond despite several proposals by the organisation on the subject.

In 1982, Afghanistan's former communist regime made a request to the UNESCO to put the Bamiyan Buddhas on its list. But it never replied to technical queries raised by the organisation's experts and subsequent Governments did not pursue the matter, he said.

The UNESCO chief will also meet the heads of U.N. agencies for Pakistan and Afghanistan and visit the Buddhist ruins in the northwestern town of Takht Bahi, included in the UNESCO's World Heritage list.

Earlier in the day, Mr. Matsuura addressed an international conference on Indus Valley Civilisation organised by the UNESCO. In his keynote address, he emphasised the need for `cross- cultural dialogue' and expressed concern over the recent developments in Afghanistan on the cultural front.

``The tragedy of the destruction of the Bamiyan monuments underlines the urgency of this `cultural ethic'. And I am convinced that it is through education alone that such an ethic can be built in the minds of men and women. For the tragedy of Bamiyan is the tragedy of a religious fanaticism that has blossomed on the bed of ignorance.''

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