Authorities say police arrested four men for allegedly destroying an ancient Buddha statue they found while carrying out construction work near a historic Buddhist site in northwest Pakistan.
PESHAWAR, Pakistan – Police arrested four men on Saturday for allegedly destroying an ancient Buddha statue they found while carrying out construction work near a historic Buddhist site in northwest Pakistan, authorities said.
The arrests in the Mardan district were made hours after a video went viral on social media showing a man smashing the statue with a hammer while it was still partially embedded in the ground.
Local archaeologists later determined that the Buddha statue was of historical value.
The men, charged under the country’s antiquities laws, face up to five years in prison if convicted. Laws prohibit the destruction of damage to antiquities, police said.
“We have taken the pieces of the destroyed Buddha in our custody to assess its archaeological value, but it was apparently ancient. Unfortunately, we lost it, “said Abdul Samad Khan, who heads the province’s archeology department.
Police said they are questioning the men, who are local residents, to determine exactly why they destroyed the Buddha, rather than alerting authorities.
The incident took place not far from Takhat Bhai, a mountainous area that was once part of Gandhara, a major Buddhist kingdom that spanned present-day Pakistan and Afghanistan more than 1,000 years ago.
Pakistan has a rich cultural heritage but does not have the resources to adequately protect it.
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