of sawt statue where the pakistani forces have been reduced to spectators as the mullah calls the shots there are vast numbers of buddhist sites in swat and other areas of northwest pakistan at this point all of them are under threat desai warns on its birth pakistan carried away with it a vast historical and cultural heritage ranging thousands of years some of the most important buddhist indus valley civilisation vedic and mauryan empire sites were situated in pakistan though as a nation pakistan has been struggling with its history it has done pretty well to preserve ancient art and culture in its archaeological museums as the mullahs men trained their guns on the buddha the deputy curator of the museum made frantic calls to the police but pakistans forces locked in a battle with militants failed to react and this is the real problem pakistan is not in a position to save its heritage and the militants are raring to wipe them out once historical evidence is destroyed it cannot be recreated its gone forever they should take care to preserve the historical sites says g t shende director antiquities at the archaeological survey of india but even though parts of pakistan are now in exactly the same situation as afghanistan when it fell to the taliban the world is watching the drama in silence when mullah omars men destroyed the bamiyan buddhas in 2001 there was a global outrage but thanks to pakistans role in the war on terror and the wests nervousness about the fate of its ally the destruction in swat has been met with silence even india has failed to react historians know that this vandalism is not an internal matter of pakistan but many of them are quiet if the world watches quietly and the militants increase their area of influence and destroy ancient relics important links with our history will be reduced to dust forever and when a rock turns into dust it tells no story shobhansaxenatimesgroupcom