Sunday, March 13, 2011
Afghan Buddha province hopes to attract skiers
By Mustafa Kazemi (AFP) – 9 hours ago
People ski on the mountains in Bamiyan province, Afghanistan
A 1.2 million dollar project was set up to encourage skiing in the mountains in Bamiyan province, Afghanistan
Taliban activity in Bamiyan is extremely rare because the area is largely populated by the Hazara ethnic group
BAMIYAN, Afghanistan — Best known for its historic Buddha statues blown up by the Taliban 10 years ago, the Afghan province of Bamiyan has a fresh attraction which it hopes will draw in tourists -- skiing.
Travelling to the slopes in Bamiyan is a risky business due to the security situation in the war-torn country, although the central Afghan province itself, around 130 kilometres (80 miles) west of Kabul, is relatively safe.
While it is short on apres-ski and lifts, organisers are hopeful that adventurous travellers could have their interest piqued by Bamiyan's dramatic beauty and the promise of wild, ungroomed runs.
Afghans are also taking an interest in the sport, including a handful of women from the more liberal Kabul, despite conservative social codes in the country under which many still wear the burqa in public.
"In Europe and the US, more and more people want to go back to country skiing, wilder, without tens of people on the same piste," said Henry Charles, a 31-year-old British security worker who regularly skis in Bamiyan.
"That is a trend, and Bamiyan is all about that... you get your own line in fresh powder snow, that's great. We're at 2,500 metres (8,200 feet) so the snow stays very well, like sugar, for several days."
The 1.2 million dollar project to encourage skiing in the area was launched in 2008 by the Aga Khan Foundation (AKF) with the help of NZAID, the New Zealand government's international aid agency.
It is backed by local officials who hope that skiing and tourism more generally can boost the economy of the poor agricultural region, where world culture body UNESCO said last week it wants to set up several museums to house the remains of Bamiyan's Buddha statues.
The three summits of Koh-e-Baba, Bamiyan's ski area, face the cliff where the massive Buddhas were blown up by the Taliban 10 years ago this month.
Before the Soviet invasion and subsequent wars in Afghanistan, Bamiyan welcomed around 65,000 tourists a year, of which some 10,000 were from Japan and came to see the Buddhas.
Last year, the figure stood at just over 3,300, of which just 805 were foreigners, mainly those already working in Afghanistan. The AKF says the figures are gradually increasing.
Taliban activity in Bamiyan is extremely rare because the area is largely populated by the Hazara ethnic group, their historic foes.
But there are other problems with attracting tourists to Bamiyan. One is that getting there is tough, and local officials say government promises of help to improve the situation have not been delivered on.
The two main roads from Kabul carry the risk of mines and hijackings by insurgents looking for cash, making flying the safest option.
However, at this stage no commercial airlines operate between Kabul and Bamiyan so most people travelling to the province rely on United Nations flights or those operated by Western embassies.
"The government promised us a couple of choppers but we haven't seen them yet," said Bamiyan's vice governor Haji Qasim Kazemi.
Accommodation in the town is also primitive -- none of its 18 hotels has round-the-clock electricity and hot water.
In addition, no one really knows what the security situation in Bamiyan will look like in a few years, after international combat troops are due to withdraw from Afghanistan in 2014.
Western sources suggest Bamiyan could be among the first wave of provinces in Afghanistan where responsibility for security will pass from international to Afghan forces from July.
Said Shah, a local teenager who has taken up skiing in recent years, highlighted fears that security could deteriorate, destroying Bamiyan's hopes of becoming a tourist destination again.
"If the foreigners continue their cooperation, we could be a ski station here one day. But peace is the first thing to achieve," he said.
Source,
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jLZcoaAwXwqGgLqHS2S4L8l2_qdQ?docId=CNG.bd57fdfbae452af0d2b556455b5b59ec.171
People ski on the mountains in Bamiyan province, Afghanistan
BAMIYAN, Afghanistan — Best known for its historic Buddha statues blown up by the Taliban 10 years ago, the Afghan province of Bamiyan has a fresh attraction which it hopes will draw in tourists -- skiing.
Travelling to the slopes in Bamiyan is a risky business due to the security situation in the war-torn country, although the central Afghan province itself, around 130 kilometres (80 miles) west of Kabul, is relatively safe.
While it is short on apres-ski and lifts, organisers are hopeful that adventurous travellers could have their interest piqued by Bamiyan's dramatic beauty and the promise of wild, ungroomed runs.
Afghans are also taking an interest in the sport, including a handful of women from the more liberal Kabul, despite conservative social codes in the country under which many still wear the burqa in public.
"In Europe and the US, more and more people want to go back to country skiing, wilder, without tens of people on the same piste," said Henry Charles, a 31-year-old British security worker who regularly skis in Bamiyan.
"That is a trend, and Bamiyan is all about that... you get your own line in fresh powder snow, that's great. We're at 2,500 metres (8,200 feet) so the snow stays very well, like sugar, for several days."
The 1.2 million dollar project to encourage skiing in the area was launched in 2008 by the Aga Khan Foundation (AKF) with the help of NZAID, the New Zealand government's international aid agency.
It is backed by local officials who hope that skiing and tourism more generally can boost the economy of the poor agricultural region, where world culture body UNESCO said last week it wants to set up several museums to house the remains of Bamiyan's Buddha statues.
The three summits of Koh-e-Baba, Bamiyan's ski area, face the cliff where the massive Buddhas were blown up by the Taliban 10 years ago this month.
Before the Soviet invasion and subsequent wars in Afghanistan, Bamiyan welcomed around 65,000 tourists a year, of which some 10,000 were from Japan and came to see the Buddhas.
Last year, the figure stood at just over 3,300, of which just 805 were foreigners, mainly those already working in Afghanistan. The AKF says the figures are gradually increasing.
Taliban activity in Bamiyan is extremely rare because the area is largely populated by the Hazara ethnic group, their historic foes.
But there are other problems with attracting tourists to Bamiyan. One is that getting there is tough, and local officials say government promises of help to improve the situation have not been delivered on.
The two main roads from Kabul carry the risk of mines and hijackings by insurgents looking for cash, making flying the safest option.
However, at this stage no commercial airlines operate between Kabul and Bamiyan so most people travelling to the province rely on United Nations flights or those operated by Western embassies.
"The government promised us a couple of choppers but we haven't seen them yet," said Bamiyan's vice governor Haji Qasim Kazemi.
Accommodation in the town is also primitive -- none of its 18 hotels has round-the-clock electricity and hot water.
In addition, no one really knows what the security situation in Bamiyan will look like in a few years, after international combat troops are due to withdraw from Afghanistan in 2014.
Western sources suggest Bamiyan could be among the first wave of provinces in Afghanistan where responsibility for security will pass from international to Afghan forces from July.
Said Shah, a local teenager who has taken up skiing in recent years, highlighted fears that security could deteriorate, destroying Bamiyan's hopes of becoming a tourist destination again.
"If the foreigners continue their cooperation, we could be a ski station here one day. But peace is the first thing to achieve," he said.
Source,
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jLZcoaAwXwqGgLqHS2S4L8l2_qdQ?docId=CNG.bd57fdfbae452af0d2b556455b5b59ec.171
Saturday, March 12, 2011
جذب گردشگران در بامیان با اسکی زنان
بامیان برای بازی اسکی بسیار مناسب است
مسئولان اکوتوریسم در بامیان، در مرکز افغانستان برای تقویت صعنت گردشگری، گروهی از زنان را در رشته ورزشی اسکی آموزش داده اند.
این گروه دوازده نفری از زنان و دختران بامیان نخستین اسکی را در روستایی موسوم به "خشکک" ولایت بامیان تمرین کردند.فاطمه احمدی یکی از این اسکی بازان، که در سازماندهی این برنامه هم نقش دارد، به بی بی سی گفت: "ما تصمیم گرفتیم تا یک تیم از زنان را برای اسکی آماده سازیم. سرانجام به تعداد دوازده نفر از زنان از دفاتر آقاخان و یوناما (نمایندگی سازمان ملل در افغانستان) در این تیم شامل شدند".
به گفته خانم احمدی، این برنامه از سوی دفتر عمرانی آقاخان برای تقویت صنعت گردشگری راه اندازی شده و قرار است تعداد زنانی که آموزش اسکی می بینند، افزایش یابند.
نوآوری
به گفته او، بامیان در تابستان و بهار جاذبه های گردشگری زیادی دارد، اما تقویت صنعت گردشگری می تواند در فصل زمستان نیز پای جهانگردان داخلی و خارجی را به منطقه سرد و برفگیر بکشاند.
بامیان در مرکز افغانستان منطقه تاریخی است
شماری از دخترانی که در این برنامه اسکی شرکت کرده اند، می گویند که این برنامه می تواند برای تقویت صنعت گردشگری بسیار سودمند است.
فاطمه مهرآئین، یکی از دختران که در این برنامه شرکت کرده است، گفت که دختران و زنان بامیانی از سوی متخصصان آمریکایی آموزش اسکی دیده اند.
منطقه ای مناسب برای بازی اسکی
خانم مهرآئین گفت بامیان به دلیل داشتن کوههای برفگیر برای بازی اسکی بسیار مناسب است. به گفته او، این امر می تواند برای جذب گردشگران داخلی و خارجی موثر باشد.او گفت: "در سالهای گذشته هم دفتر آقاخان در بامیان برنامه بازی اسکی مردانه داشت، اما امسال خواستند در صدمین سالروز همبستگی زنان، اسکی زنان برگزار کنند و فایده این کار این است که توانایی زنان را نشان می دهد."
اسکی دختران برای تقویت صنعت گردشگری به راه انداخته شده است
در سالهای اخیر شماری از متخصصان اسکی از کشورهای مختلف به بامیان سفرکرده و دره های کوه بابا را برای ورزش اسکی آزمایش کرده اند.
این متخصصان می گویند مناطق سردسیر بامیان در فصلهای زمستان و بهار مکانی مناسب برای اسکی بازی تشخیص شده است.
چندی پیش مسئولان اکوتوریزم در بامیان گفته بودند که کتاب راهنمای اسکی در بامیان را، که یک متخصص آمریکایی نوشته منتشر می کنند.
بامیان در مرکز افغانستان منطقه تاریخی است که مجسمه های بودا در همین ولایت توسط طالبان در سال ۲۰۰۱ میلادی تخریب شد.
Friday, March 11, 2011
Afghans divided over remains of Buddha statues
By Farhad Peikar Mar 11, 2011, 5:18 GMT
Bamiyan, Afghanistan - As experts in Paris pondered what to do with Afghanistan's shattered Buddhist statues, the locals in a snow-covered valley thousands of kilometres away had their own opinions.
Exactly 10 years after the giant statues in the central province of Bamiyan were dynamited by the Taliban, hundreds of provincial officials and local farmers massed in front of their empty niches this week in commemoration.
'If they were reconstructed, they would attract a large number of tourists every year,' said Ebrahim Akbari, the head of Bamiyan's information and culture department.
In a declaration drafted at the gathering, the men and a handful of burqa-clad women collectively condemned the destruction of the 1,500-year-old statues and pleaded with the international community to help the province rebuild them.
But Western and Afghan specialists have decided against trying to piece the rubble back together, as the fragments are too small.
'The reconstruction is not possible,' said Franscesco Bandarin, assistant director general for culture of the UN's Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). 'We are not doing it,' he said late Thursday at UNESCO's New York offices.
Speaking before the decision was announced, Akbari said a restoration would help the province, once a trading hub on the ancient Silk Road, regain its historical significance.
The region, which lies in the Hindu Kush mountains, attracted many visitors even after Muslims captured the region in the ninth century. Tourists and traders continued to come to the region until Soviet troops invaded Afghanistan in 1979.
Even today, while most of Afghanistan is plagued by a Taliban insurgency against the Afghan government and foreign troops, Bamiyan frequently hosts foreigners who work for international organizations and diplomatic missions in Kabul.
The province, located 230 kilometers north-west of Kabul at an altitude of 2,500 metres, still suffers extreme poverty, but is widely regarded as the country's safest region.
Pride in local culture is strong, and people from all walks of life have taken firm positions on the debate over the statues' future.
Haji Qasim Kazimi, Bamiyan's deputy provincial governor, welcomed a finding by a German specialist that only the smaller statue could have been rebuilt. Leaving the larger niche empty was a good idea anyway, he said, so that future generations could see 'the Taliban's cultural crimes.'
Razia Eqbalzada, a member of the provincial council, had called for both to be restored, in defiance of what she called the Taliban's act of enmity towards Afghan culture and the international community.
'Now that we have a government with the help of the world, we should show them [the Taliban] that if they could destroy our cultural heritage, we can rebuild it and keep our history alive,' she said, days before UNESCO announced the decision it had made with Kabul.
Local people had other reservations about the potential project.
'I don't know why we should spend millions of dollars rebuilding Buddhas while we don't have clinics, schools for our children or paved roads,' said Hussain Ali, who owns a grocery shop in the main bazaar of Bamiyan city, the provincial capital.
But Abdul Karim, another shopkeeper in the same market, who was forced by the Taliban 10 years ago to help destroy the statues, disagreed. 'This is a historical province, and the main site is the statues,' he said.
'So if these Buddhas are not reconstructed, I don't think anyone would spend money to come all the way to see the empty niches,' he said.
Some were also concerned that reconstructing the Buddhas could send the wrong message to the country's conservative Islamic society.
'Because of these statues, the Taliban thought we were not Muslims, and that was why they came and destroyed them,' said Safar Ali, a resident of Dara Fooladi, a village on Bamiyan city's western outskirts.
Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar said the statues were anti-Islamic idols when he ordered them dynamited, seven months before the regime was ousted by a US-led invasion in 2001.
Ali said the Sunni Muslim Taliban fighters thought their Shiite rivals, the majority in Bamiyan but a minority in the country, were worshiping the statues. 'So if we rebuild them, we will prove them right, that we wanted these statues for worship,' he said.
Speaking before the decision not to rebuild was announced, Omara Khan Masoudi, the director of National Museum in Kabul, was philosophical. 'Afghanistan has lost its precious statues and nothing could be done to bring them back to their original shape,' he said.
Source,
http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/southasia/news/article_1625196.php/Afghans-divided-over-remains-of-Buddha-statues
Conserving the Bamiyan Buddhas
One of the most horrifying acts of the Taliban was blasting the two magnificent, 1500-year-old Buddha statues in Bamiyan with dynamites, rocket launchers, and tanks. The 10th anniversary of this tragic destruction, which began on March 2, 2011 and took weeks to complete, provides an occasion to reflect on the future of the Afghan heritage. These statues, carved on the face of the Hindu-Kush Mountains, were great representatives of Asian art. The two unique colossi, 55 and 38 meter tall — the first of which was the tallest in the world — synthesised various art styles, including the Gandhara and Greco-Roman. They also represented a wonderfully creative phase of Buddhist history. The Indian government, through the Archaeological Survey of India, played a commendable role in the conservation of the Bamiyan monuments between 1969 and 1977. Although attempts were made in the early 1980s to declare them as World Heritage sites, it was only in 2003 that the effort succeeded. Simultaneously, these heritage structures were placed in the list of sites in danger, which helped mobilise international expertise and financial support for their protection.
UNESCO, which is coordinating the conservation efforts in Afghanistan, deserves the highest praise. Instead of rushing to rebuild the destroyed icons, as desired by some of the heritage experts and funding countries, it opted for a three-phase project to demine the area, strengthen the mountain cliffs, and improve the vicinity. Involving local communities in conservation efforts and building their capacities has been very sensibly made a priority. This sustainable approach, adopted since 2003, has paid dividends and the Bamiyan site is now ready to be removed from the list of World Heritage sites in danger. The demand to rebuild the Bamiyan Buddhas has gained fresh momentum after experts demonstrated the feasibility of reconstructing the smaller of the two statues, using fragments from the original statues. A final decision will be taken after carefully analysing the costs and benefits of the project, including the social gains that would accrue to the local community. The Taliban's barbaric destruction of the Buddhas exposes the limits of international conventions meant to safeguard heritage structures of universal value. In general, these conventions only address the damage caused by conventional war; they are ineffective in dealing with rogue States that vandalise their own cultural properties. There is an urgent need to review these international legal instruments and to make it mandatory for states to protect their cultural diversity and the heritage structures that represent it gloriously.
Source,
Ancient Buddhas Will Not Be Rebuilt – UNESCO
UNITED NATIONS, Mar 11, 2011 (IPS) - Afghanistan's historic Bamiyan Buddhas, destroyed by the Taliban 10 years ago, will not be reconstructed despite claims the 1,500-year-old statues could be repaired, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) said Thursday.
The decision follows a two-day meeting of scientists, Afghan officials and donors in Paris last week.
While the expert panel was split on the possibility of reconstruction, UNESCO has told the Afghan government it does not support a rebuild project, citing concerns over funding priorities and authenticity.
Replicating the colossal monuments, which once stood 55 and 38 metres tall, could cost between eight and 12 million dollars. However, less than half of the original stone used to build the statues remains.
"We think any reconstruction will essentially be a fake because of lack of original material," UNESCO's assistant director-general for culture, Francesco Bandarin, told reporters at a special conference in New York.
"We have to think of the public, and they don't need to see a fake, they need to see the reality. And these statues have been destroyed. As much as we mourn that they have been destroyed it's an historical fact," he added.
The Bamiyan Buddhas, dating from the sixth century, were bombed in 2001 as part of the Taliban's campaign to rid Afghanistan of pre-Islamic structures.
While much of the statues was reduced to dust, a group of German scientists, led by Professor Erwin Emmerling of the University of Munich, has said the smaller of the two could be restored.
The scientists have spent years studying the Buddhas, by analysing the hundreds of exploded fragments currently stacked in warehouses in the Bamiyan Valley.
According to Emmerling, a reconstruction project could be feasible using the original stone, but there would be practical considerations. Either a small factory would have to be built in the valley, or the 1,400 rocks weighing up to two tonnes each would need to be transported to Germany.
The scientists' proposals, however, have not been accepted by Afghan President Hamid Karzai and his government, which has indicated it will not go ahead with restoration.
The decision has drawn strong criticism from Afghanistan's Hazara community, a minority ethnic group that claims a long association with the Bamiyan Valley and views the Buddha statues as a source of pride.
The international advocacy organisation Hazara People said the consensus to not rebuild was "shameful".
The group believes the decision is politically influenced and reflects the continued discrimination aganst Hazara peoples in Afghanistan.
"We are not surprised the Afghan government does not want to rebuild the Bamiyan Buddhas," a spokesperson, who did not want to be named, told IPS. "Bamiyan Buddhas are great proof that say Hazara people have been living in that area for thousands of years."
Hazaras have long faced violence in Afghanistan, suffering genocide, slavery, and forced displacement under a series of governments including the Taliban.
And while the ethnic group is predominately Muslim, their East Asian appearance bears a resemblance to monuments such as the Bamiyan Buddhas.
"Afghan regimes have had this policy to destroy all historic symbols of Hazaras," the spokesperson continued. "The (19th century) Afghan/Pashtun king Abdurrahman has destroyed the face of Buddha in Bamiyan. It was very simple, he didn't want Buddha's face like Hazara's face."
The group rejected the argument that there was a lack of funding for restoration, pointing to the Karzai government's recent willingness to financially support the reconstruction of Pashtun poet Rahman Baba's bombed shrine in Pakistan.
"But the same government didn't pay one dollar for the Bamiyan Buddhas," the spokesperson told IPS.
"The expenses of a few projects in Bamiyan have been covered by some international donors. Furthermore, eight to 12 million dollars is nothing compared to billions of dollars in aid to Afghanistan…eight to 12 million dollars is nothing compared to a million dollars corruption by Afghan senior officials."
While acknowledging there was desire to see the Buddhas rebuilt, UNESCO believes priority should now be placed on preserving the wider Bamiyan Valley, a World Heritage-listed site containing treasured Buddhist art and monastic caves dating to the first century.
The organisation, which has already conducted extensive consolidation of the ancient niches where the statues once stood, has called for construction of a central museum in Bamiyan, in addition to smaller site museums within the area.
"The priority now is creating the capacity to conserve what is there and ensuring the security of the site, in order to have it open for tourism," Bandarin said.
Source,
http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=54808
The decision follows a two-day meeting of scientists, Afghan officials and donors in Paris last week.
While the expert panel was split on the possibility of reconstruction, UNESCO has told the Afghan government it does not support a rebuild project, citing concerns over funding priorities and authenticity.
Replicating the colossal monuments, which once stood 55 and 38 metres tall, could cost between eight and 12 million dollars. However, less than half of the original stone used to build the statues remains.
"We think any reconstruction will essentially be a fake because of lack of original material," UNESCO's assistant director-general for culture, Francesco Bandarin, told reporters at a special conference in New York.
"We have to think of the public, and they don't need to see a fake, they need to see the reality. And these statues have been destroyed. As much as we mourn that they have been destroyed it's an historical fact," he added.
The Bamiyan Buddhas, dating from the sixth century, were bombed in 2001 as part of the Taliban's campaign to rid Afghanistan of pre-Islamic structures.
While much of the statues was reduced to dust, a group of German scientists, led by Professor Erwin Emmerling of the University of Munich, has said the smaller of the two could be restored.
The scientists have spent years studying the Buddhas, by analysing the hundreds of exploded fragments currently stacked in warehouses in the Bamiyan Valley.
According to Emmerling, a reconstruction project could be feasible using the original stone, but there would be practical considerations. Either a small factory would have to be built in the valley, or the 1,400 rocks weighing up to two tonnes each would need to be transported to Germany.
The scientists' proposals, however, have not been accepted by Afghan President Hamid Karzai and his government, which has indicated it will not go ahead with restoration.
The decision has drawn strong criticism from Afghanistan's Hazara community, a minority ethnic group that claims a long association with the Bamiyan Valley and views the Buddha statues as a source of pride.
The international advocacy organisation Hazara People said the consensus to not rebuild was "shameful".
The group believes the decision is politically influenced and reflects the continued discrimination aganst Hazara peoples in Afghanistan.
"We are not surprised the Afghan government does not want to rebuild the Bamiyan Buddhas," a spokesperson, who did not want to be named, told IPS. "Bamiyan Buddhas are great proof that say Hazara people have been living in that area for thousands of years."
Hazaras have long faced violence in Afghanistan, suffering genocide, slavery, and forced displacement under a series of governments including the Taliban.
And while the ethnic group is predominately Muslim, their East Asian appearance bears a resemblance to monuments such as the Bamiyan Buddhas.
"Afghan regimes have had this policy to destroy all historic symbols of Hazaras," the spokesperson continued. "The (19th century) Afghan/Pashtun king Abdurrahman has destroyed the face of Buddha in Bamiyan. It was very simple, he didn't want Buddha's face like Hazara's face."
The group rejected the argument that there was a lack of funding for restoration, pointing to the Karzai government's recent willingness to financially support the reconstruction of Pashtun poet Rahman Baba's bombed shrine in Pakistan.
"But the same government didn't pay one dollar for the Bamiyan Buddhas," the spokesperson told IPS.
"The expenses of a few projects in Bamiyan have been covered by some international donors. Furthermore, eight to 12 million dollars is nothing compared to billions of dollars in aid to Afghanistan…eight to 12 million dollars is nothing compared to a million dollars corruption by Afghan senior officials."
While acknowledging there was desire to see the Buddhas rebuilt, UNESCO believes priority should now be placed on preserving the wider Bamiyan Valley, a World Heritage-listed site containing treasured Buddhist art and monastic caves dating to the first century.
The organisation, which has already conducted extensive consolidation of the ancient niches where the statues once stood, has called for construction of a central museum in Bamiyan, in addition to smaller site museums within the area.
"The priority now is creating the capacity to conserve what is there and ensuring the security of the site, in order to have it open for tourism," Bandarin said.
Source,
http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=54808
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