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DELEGATION OF ISLAMIC SPIRITUAL LEADERS ARRIVES IN AFGHANISTAN

Paris, March 11 (No.2001-37) – UNESCO Director-General Koïchiro Matsuura yesterday conveyed a letter, through his special envoy in Afghanistan Pierre Lafrance, to Mullah Omar demanding that he suspend his edict to destroy pre-Islamic Afghan statues until the arrival of an important religious delegation.

In the letter, the Director-General noted his consultations with numerous Ulemas (Islamic religious leaders) and proposed that the Taliban edict be suspended and re-examined by Afghanistan’s Supreme Court upon a hearing with the delegation of specialists of Islamic law, which this morning left Doha, Qatar, and has arrived in Kandahar, Afghanistan.

The religious delegation of some 15 members is led by Doctor Nasr Farid Wasil, the Mufti of Egypt and includes, notably, Ibrabim Baker, Assistant Secretary General for Political Affairs of the Organization of the Islamic Conference; Sheikh Yousef Al-Kardawi of Doha; Sheikh Mohamad Al-Rawi, Ulema of Al-Azhar; the well-known Islamic author, Fahmi al-Hwadi; along with other judges of the Sharia (Islamic law) and professors. They are expected to meet with Afghan religious leaders and Mullah Omar.

Mr Matsuura expressed gratitude to the Emir of Qatar—the country that is currently presiding the Organization of the Islamic Conference, the largest organization in the Muslim world—for making an aircraft available for the delegation.