Ancient Buddha statue discovered in Pak, destroyed by construction workers for being 'unIslamic'

Videos of the incident have gone viral on social media.

An ancient Buddha statue, which was found in Pakistan's Takht Bahi area in Mardan district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa while digging the foundation of a house, was vandalised by local construction workers on Saturday as they considered the relic to be "unIslamic".

Workers who were digging the foundation of a house discovered the ancient relic said to be from the Gandhara civilisation. Calling the idol “unIslamic”, the men smashed the statue into pieces.

A video of the incident that has gone viral on social media shows the construction workers destroying the idol using a sledgehammer and expressing their resentment towards it.

#Shameful A life sized statue of God Buddha was discovered in a construction site in Takhtbhai,Pakistan.

However,b4 the Archaeology dept was informed about it, contractor had already broken it into pieces on suggestion of local Molvi. After Carbon dating,it is found 1800 yrs old. pic.twitter.com/mJK0mtbqzR — BJP Gilgit-Baltistan (Official) (@BJP4GB) July 18, 2020

Abdul Samad, director, Archaeology and Museums in KPK said, “We have located the area and we will have those involved arrested soon.”

Pakistani media has reported that four people involved in vandalising the statue have been arrested.

READ | Rare Buddha statue vandalised in Pakistan nearly 1,700-year-old, belonged to Gandhara civilisation

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa's old name is Ghandhara and the region is a highly revered place for the followers of Buddhism.

In 2017, two rare and ancient Buddha statues were unearthed at an archeological site in Bhamala in Hariput district. The largest ever statue found at the site depicts the death of Buddha and the second statue was a Buddha with a double halo.

The statue depicting the death scenario was the oldest of its kind in the world. It was also verified by the American laboratory which identified it as older than third century BC.

Peshawar Museum is also known for displaying one of the world's largest collection of architectural pieces on Buddha.

A couple of years ago, the museum's tallest statue of Buddha in schist stone was transported to Switzerland for display there for 100 days at an international exhibition.