Afghanistan: The cash-strapped Taliban is now selling tickets to see Buddha statues that were vandalized by Taliban officials 22 years ago. This has been revealed in the report of The Washington Post. It has been said that the statues of Buddha in the Bamiyan area of Afghanistan are becoming a source of income through tourism.
Taliban Minister of Culture Atiqullah Aziji said in an interview that Bamiyan and the Buddha are as important to our government as they are to the world. One thousand guards have been deployed for their security.
They are also monitoring tickets in the area. Saifur Rahman Mohammadi, Director of the Information and Cultural Department, said – There is no point in talking about the incident that happened two decades ago. Now is the time to move on.
Bamiyan is one of the poorest provinces of Afghanistan. Nestled amidst the hills of the Hindukush, most of the people of Bamiyan depend only on potato cultivation and coal mining. In 2003, UNESCO granted Bamiyan the status of a Historic Site. Now gun-toting guards are stationed in front of the empty space of Buddha statues.
Here a ticket of Rs 3 has been kept for Afghan tourists and Rs 282 for foreign tourists. The laser show is happening here since 2015. Last year more than 2 lakh Afghan tourists reached Bamiyan. Each of these people had spent Rs 5,000 on average.
The current Taliban government of Afghanistan has been engaged in developing Bamiyan ever since it came to power. The current government wants to show that they are more moderate than the old Taliban. In many places in Bamiyan, it is written that the ‘terrorist Taliban group’ has broken the statues of Buddha. However, the word ‘terrorist’ is used everywhere.