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Vishnu and Bust of Vishnu statues

Absolute power corrupts, absolutely


By Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury——--December 26, 2007

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The Interim Bangladeshi government led by Dr. Fakhruddin Ahmed now shall stand liable to the entire nation for sending invaluable artifacts to France despite tremendous protest from various sections of people including the Bangladeshi press, because, it has been disclosed that, two extremely precious ‘Vishnu’ statues had already been stolen from the second consignment. According to various sources, the cost of these stolen statues are worth a few million dollars.

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It has also learned that, three more status are also missing from the first batch of consignment, which was already sent to France. But, some of the influential members in the government, who are ultimate beneficiaries of the entire scam are keeping the matter secret. Meanwhile, some of the influential advisors in the interim government have suggested law enforcement agencies to try to make a fake recovery drama and replace those stolen statues either with two replicas or two of similar statues [not ancient like the stolen one] recovered by the law enforcing agencies to placate the protestors. The Weekly Blitz already exposed the entire scam and mentioned that two of the influential advisors in the interim government are behind this smuggling of invaluable national assets. Giving his immediate reaction to the incident, one of the eminent archeologists in Bangladesh said that, the interim government has virtually betrayed the entire nation by forcefully sending such invaluable artifacts to France defying massive protests. The 1,500-year-old terracotta Vishnu statues bound for an exhibition in Paris were stolen while in the custody of Air France at the Zia International Airport. Named 'Vishnu' and 'Bust of Vishnu', the statues originate from the Gupta era of the seventh century. Since being discovered in a dig at ‘Mahasthangarh’ of Bogra [Northern district in Bangladesh], they had been kept at the National Museum in Dhaka. Cost of these statues are at least US$ 9-10 million while the insurance value of the entire consignment is only US$ 60 thousand. So, if the two stolen statues are finally not found, Bangladesh will have to be happy with the compensation of part of the entire insurance money. According to Bangladeshi authorities, the invaluable Vishnu statues went missing while they were in the possession of Air France. Despite a series of protests from people in various walks of life against the smuggling of invaluable national artifacts to France from the Bangladeshi museum, it is shocking to know that the present interim government paid no heed to the voice of the people, instead with no fanfare somewhat silently smuggling the second batch of 189 artifacts to France. Cost of the first and second batch of such precious artifacts would surely cost a few billion dollars. Meanwhile, due to a massive protest, Cultural Affairs Adviser Ayub Quadri in Bangladesh admitted his failure in informing the people about sending such precious artifacts to France and said the heirlooms will be brought back home. The advisor to the interim government said this during a briefing, which was organized following media reports on sending the artifacts for display at an exhibition to be held at 'Guimet National Museum of Asian Arts' in Paris. The Bangladesh government on December 1 sent the first consignment of 42 age-old objects, while the rest of 189 items were sent silently during the Eid holiday, triggering apprehension that those either could be smuggled out or lost. And very surprisingly, if the entire consignment of artifacts worth at least seven billion dollars will be lost, the Bangladesh government will get just 2.6 million Euros as insurance covers this amount. It may be mentioned here that, two of the influential advisors in the interim government played an important role in smuggling of such invaluable national property to France, defying both a court order and public outcry. Their over enthusiasm in sending such items surely leaves significant doubts in the minds of people about the ultimate motive behind this secret deal. Meanwhile, the French Embassy in Bangladesh has issued a statement denouncing any possibility of these invaluable artifacts being either stolen and denied that only duplicate copies are being sent back to Bangladesh. If anyone reads the statement of the Embassy, it will be easier to understand the ultimate intention of sending of such a huge number of artifacts to the Guimet Museum. In the statement, the French Embassy said, “As of not returning the artifacts at all, this would be theft: it is a serious allegation that is both insulting and ridiculous in view of recent history. Stolen artifacts are trafficked everywhere, but they do not come from national European museums: they are stolen from their country of origin, whichever it is, as the recent recovery of such pieces made by RAB or by many police forces throughout the world demonstrate.” Yes, the people of Bangladesh said the artifacts would be stolen or duplicated by the Guimet Museum itself and never sent back to Bangladesh. The French Embassy rightly said that, stolen artifacts are trafficked from the country of origin. Yes, it is absolutely true, as our invaluable artifacts are trafficked to France. So, the statement of the embassy never says anything negative about the possibility of our invaluable artifacts being trafficked to France with the active influence of two of the advisors of the interim government. The statement of the embassy on the insurance amount is dubious enough. Let us just read what they said on this issue, which will surely let us understand the ultimate intention. The embassy said, “much has been made of the insurance values. Unique artifacts have, by definition, no monetary value because they can not be replaced, so the insurance value is only an amount set aside for restoration in case of damage. Because a precise amount has to be decided upon, the closest value taken from international auction houses is usually used by the lender. This value is best kept reasonable for two reasons: first, since accidents happen so seldom and would be anyhow fully compensated by the borrower, there is little call to make the insurance companies profit from huge bonuses and second, too high a premium might put the artifacts at risk of been stolen after their return because people might think, mistakenly, that they will be able to sell them for that price. In this particular case, values were reasonable to start with and, purely as a gesture of good will, have been increased further. Now, when the artifacts come back to Bangladesh, who can guarantee that these are not mere replicas? Hopefully, this artifacts scandal shall not become a very serious allegation against the present interim government in the days to come. But, of course, the entire process is extremely dubious and especially the sending of the batches during the holidays, which leaves a strong signal to everyone that, we have every reason to be doubtful. Why was the Bangladesh government over enthusiastic in sending such invaluable items out of the country. Who will ultimately benefit from such a cloudy deal? The sending of artifacts now evidently proves that the interim government shows no respect either to public opinion or to press reactions. Instead the government members behave like dictators or someone holding absolute power. And of course, absolute power corrupts, absolutely. Now let us focus on the incident at Rangs Building. Everyone in Bangladesh by now knows that more than one dozen poor construction workers were killed in the collapse of the Rangs Building, most of whose dead bodies are yet to be recovered from the rubble. According to experts, many people got struck inside the building for days before they died as no one did anything to rescue them. Ridiculous! Shameful! The advisor concerned never visited the spot and the Chief of the interim government, Dr. Fakhruddin Ahmed, who passes through the building every day, never considered it important to at least get down from his car to see what was happening there. Why? May be there is no value of human lives to many of the members of the present interim government. We all know, Dr. Ahmed has gone to Mecca for performing Hajj to clean his sins. But, do we consider the Almighty Allah to be so stupid to forgive them the blunders involving human lives? Every human being is the loving creation of Allah, and if someone shows disrespect to such creations, the Almighty shall never forgive him or her. Dr. Fakhruddin Ahmed is a wise man. So far as we know, he is an honest human being too. May I leave a question to the very conscience of the Chief Advisor to the interim government as to how he can seek forgiveness from Allah for ignoring those poor construction workers struck inside Rangs Building and ultimately letting them die? When the Chief Advisor’s convoy passes through the Rangs Building, will the smell of decomposed human bodies will at least move their hearts? Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury is the editor & publisher of The Weekly Blitz. He is a journalist, columnist, author and Peace activist. He is the recipient of PEN USA Freedom to Write Award 2005, Recipient of American Jewish Committee Moral Courage Award 2006. Salah can be reached at: salahuddinshoaibchoudhury@yahoo.com


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