Hundreds of students took to the streets in Kathmandu today in a protest march against the Taliban decision to demolish ancient statues of Buddha in Afghanistan.
The "silent rally" was organised in the capital of the Hindu kingdom by the Nepal Students Union (NSU), a student wing of the ruling Nepali Congress party.
The NSU appealed to the world community to protect the ancient statues.
The students, holding posters of Buddha and placards reading "Save Lord Buddhas Images, Oppose Terrorism" marched through the city. Mr Ishwar Panthi, an NSU official, said a memorandum was handed over to the UN Development Programme asking the United Nations to make concerted efforts to save the ancient statues.
A huge procession is planned in Kathmandu tomorrow at the call of Dharmodaya Sabha, a Buddhist association to protest the destruction of the statues built more than 1,500 years ago.
Buddha was born in Nepal around the sixth century BC at Lumbini.
The order by the Taliban militia's supreme leader, Mr Mulla Mohammad Omar, that all of Afghanistan's pre-Islamic statues be destroyed to prevent idolatry, in line with a fatwa (religious decree) from local clerics, has raised a worldwide outcry.
AFP