From joel@mtn.wlink.com.np Wed Mar 21 14:58:06 2001
Date: Tue, 13 Mar 2001 07:23:25 +0800
From: Joel 
To: Natural History of South Asia - General discussion and research
    
Subject: UNESCO International Petition to Safeguard Afghanistan Cultural
    Heritage

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-Please sign and also forward this e-mail to friends, family, news
groups, mailing lists etc.
DO NOT SIGN TWICE. DO NOT LET IT DEAD END. IF YOU ARE UNABLE
OR UNWILLING TO SIGN I, EITHER FORWARD IT TO OTHERS OR RETURN TO
unesco.press@unesco.org
-To avoid adding ">>>" onto the chain, please preferably cut & paste the
entire petition and list of names into a
new message prior to re-sending.
-THE 100th, 200th, 300th NAME/PERSON to sign is requested to also
forward the updated list of signatures back to the United Nations
Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization at e-mail:
"unesco.press@unesco.org"
UNESCO International Petition to Safeguard Afghanistan Cultural Heritage
We, the undersigned, plead for an immediate end to the Taliban edict to
demolish Afghanistan's cultural heritage. We further urge the Taliban
spiritual leader Mullah Mohammed Omar to enter into dialogue with the
international community -including the Arab and Islamic governments that
overwhelmingly have condemned these actions - in order to explore
proposals to safeguard this irreplaceable cultural heritage from
further, senseless destruction. The edict of the 26th of February 2001
to destroy pre-Islamic and Buddhist objects-including the world's
largest standing Buddha statues at Bamiyan-runs counter to all the basic
principles of respect, tolerance and the wisdom upon which Islam is
based, and is a breach of the Taliban pledge made in 1999. We plead with
Taliban authorities to stop this irreversible assault on two millennia
of Afghanistan's artistic and cultural achievements, treasured not only
as the spiritual birthright of Buddhists everywhere but also as a
universal cultural heritage for people of all faiths and nationalities.

1. Gustavo F Araoz, US/ICOMOS, Washington, DC, USA
2. Douglas C. Comer, Ph.D., Cultural Site Research and Management
3. Peter Bellwood, Australian National University and Indo-Pacific
Prehistory Assn.
4. Richard A Engelhardt, UNESCO Regional Advisor for Culture in Asia and the
Pacific
5.Veit Burger, Environment & Natural Resources, The World Bank, Washington,
DC, USA
6.Maggie Shah, Kathmandu, Nepal
7.Gyan Bahadur Lama - UNESCO/Nuwakot Post Box # 11212, Kathmandu Nepal
8.Suman Shekhar Manandhar, Kopundole, Lalitpur.
9.Lucia de Vries, Mangal Bazaar, Patan, Kathmandu, Nepal
10.Joel Isaacson, Kathmandu, Nepal
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