New Discoveries

Afghan Talibans attempted to destroy a beautiful first century Buddha statue carved into a rock in the NWFP, located on the border of Afghanistan, but failed in their attempt and ended up destroying a nearby rock.

The unearthing of another Buddhist-era site in the formerly beleaguered Swat valley comes as pleasant news.
Initial excavations by an Italian archaeology mission at Kandak and Kota in the Barikot area have apparently revealed treasures that include prehistoric rock carvings, paintings of social and hunting scenes and pottery specimens “preserved in good condition,” according to the mission’s director. The Italians deserve kudos for continuing their work under the most trying circumstances during the past many years since Swat became the scene of utter lawlessness because of militancy in the area. Indeed, Italian archaeologists are no strangers to the valley where they have had a presence since the discovery of the riveting Butkara site in the late 1950s in the backyard of the administrative capital, Saidu Sharif.
No doubt, the many foreign archaeologists, particularly the Italians in Swat and the French in Mehrgarh, Balochistan, have played an important role in preserving Pakistan’s historical treasures. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for the role of the national archaeology department as the custodian of these and other historical sites. For instance, we have not heard of the fate of the artifacts housed in the Swat Museum at Saidu and the Chakdara Museum on the road to Dir.
Such concern is justified when one considers that a giant, 130-foot-high Buddha rock carving in Swat’s Jahanabad area was dynamited by the Taliban in September 2007. It was the tallest Buddha carving in South Asia next only to the Bamiyan masterpieces in Afghanistan, which had met a similar fate at the hands of the Taliban in that country. As has been underscored before, it is essential that we hear from the official custodians whether or not our national heritage in Swat remains in safe hands. So far there has been nothing but silence from them.