Bid to save Afghan Buddhist remains
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Buddhist organisations will today submit a plea to the United Nations and Unesco Bangkok director Gwang-jo Kim to save the ancient Buddhist remains at Afghanistan's Mes Aynak, which are under threat from mining for copper next month.
World Fellowship of Buddhist Youths president Pornchai Pinyapong said the organisation feared the 2,600-year-old cultural site would be erased from history in exchange for commercial gain. It called for the mining project to be cancelled and for Mes Aynak to be immediately put on the list of Endangered Sites and as a World Heritage site.
Pornchai urged those wishing to join Buddhists around the world trying to stop this project to sign an appeal to UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation at http://chn.ge/TstjEm and an appeal to the Afghan president http://chn.ge/Pux8Nr. The organiser of the move, Nadia Tarzi, aims to get 200,000 signatures by November 30.
