The New Nation - Internet Edition

Staff Reporter

In spite of strong opposition from some members of the Council of Advisers of Caretaker Government, Education and Cultural Affairs Adviser Dr Ayub Quadri unilaterally decided to send 187 pieces of rare antiquities, including two stolen 1,500-year-old terracotta Vishnu statues, sources at the Chief Adviser's Office said yesterday.

"Several members of the Council of Advisers opposed tooth and nail sending the artefacts to France at a meeting with Chief Adviser Dr Fakhruddin Ahmed. But ignoring the opposition decision was taken to send the artefacts for exhibition in Giumet Museum in France," a high official, preferring anonymity, told The New Nation.

Even the prior approval of the Council of Advisers was not sought for sending these rare artefacts from Bangladesh, the official said.

The intelligence agencies of the country had opposed the move for sending the artefacts fearing that they would never come back from France to Bangladesh once they crossed the borders.

The official said the Council of Advisers would hold an emergency meeting at the Chief Adviser's Office in the city today to discuss the situation arising out of stealing of two statues of Hindu god Vishnu.

Another high official of the Ministry of Cultural Affairs told The New Nation yesterday that a vested interest group inside the then Awami League government led by Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman had taken up a plan for sending precious antiquities from Bangladesh to France just after independence in 1971. The plan was subsequently dropped in face of strong opposition from artists and art connoisseurs. Even, Bangabandhu himself had rejected the plan of sending the artefacts.

Meanwhile, Police, RAB and other intelligence agencies could not make any headway in the investigation into the missing Vishnu statues till yesterday.

Airport sources said intelligence agencies collected CCTV video

footages from the airport in a bid to identify the persons involved in stealing the artifacts.

Earlier, Education and Cultural Affairs Adviser Dr Ayub Quadri said

he takes the responsibility for the missing of two rare terracotta statues on their way to Paris.

"I don't know how far my personal failure is there but as an Adviser

of the Cultural Affairs Ministry I'll have to take the responsibility for the missing of the statues," he said responding to reporters' queries at his ministry.

The Adviser said he personally feels that the remaining artifacts should not be sent to Guimet Museum for exhibition until the heist of the two statues is resolved.

However, he said an appropriate decision needs to be taken in this regard considering the international agreement and relations with France.

Asked if he would step down for this, the Adviser said, "Let's see."

Asked why the artefacts were being sent despite persistent protests, Quadri said there was opposition against sending of the artifacts but none said about the missing on the way.

On the other hand, France's Lyon-based Interpol yesterday contacted the Bangladesh police to inquire about the two missing terracotta statues of Hindu god Vishnu.

AIG (Interpol) Bangladesh Desk Anwar Kamal said that the Interpol

headquarters in France came to know about the missing of statues on way to Paris from newspaper reports and contacted with them.

Kamal said they have collected photos of the missing statues and other relevant information which will be sent to the Interpol Headquarters today (Tuesday).

Meanwhile, Director General of National Museum Samar Chandra Pal filed a case with Airport Police station alleging that some unidentified thieves stole the statues from Zia International Port early Saturday.

Police sources said the Director General in his FIR mentioned that 13 crates containing 145 artifacts were handed over to the Air France authorities after completing customs

formalities and the two statues were stolen from the custody of the Air France.

Police detained 11 people including two Ansars for interrogation on Sunday. Later, the Ansars were released while an employee of the civil aviation named Shankar Chandra Dev was detained from Bhola yesterday. All the 10 were shown arrested in the case filed by the National Museum director general.

The five-member Inquiry Committee headed by a Joint Secretary to the Civil Aviation Ministry yesterday made on the spot investigation at the airport and had talks with four officials of the National Museum and the Barendra Museum.

The exhibition, titled 'Sonar Bangla' was scheduled to showcase 189 pieces of Bangladeshi ancient art, over four months at Guimet Museum in Paris.

Local artists alleged that it is not a museum at all, rather it is an art collection house. The museum is also not well known and has a dubious past.

It is known that 187 pieces of antiquities including 128 life-size statues, terracotta and copper plaques, Prajna Paramita scriptures and coins from Pala, Sen, Gupta and Maurya dynasties, were selected for the exhibition.

Their insurance value totalled 45,000 euros that is equivalent to around Tk 45 lakh, sources at the Cultural Ministry said.

The insurance value of the two missing Vishnu statues was shown only Tk 2 lakh.

Named 'Vishnu' and 'Bust of Vishnu', the statues are from Gupta era of the seventh century. Since being discovered in a dig at Mahasthangarh of Bogra, they had been kept at the National Museum.

About importance of the stolen works of art, Dr Shamsuzzaman Khan, former director general of the National Museum, said, "Those are masterpieces and very valuable to our cultural heritage and social history."

Different sources said it was almost impossible to make off with the container box (wooden box) of the Vishnu statues weighing 64 kilograms without a car.

Abdullah Al Hasan, general manager of cargo terminal at the ZIA, said the vehicles of Civil Aviation Authorities, Bangladesh Biman, Air France, Voyager Airlines, police and other government agencies were working during that time. "All those vehicles had permission to be there," he added.

Abdul Quddus, senior conservation officer of Varendra Museum, first noticed that one out of the 13 boxes was missing in the cargo flight at around 1:00pm, said sources at the cultural ministry and law enforcers.

Quddus was supposed to travel with the artefacts as the government courier.

At around 8:00pm, the empty box of the Vishnu statues was found floating in a ditch beside the runway.

Earlier on Friday evening, Homebound, the shipper agent hired by the French government, carried the 145 artefacts in 13 boxes from the National Museum at Shahbagh to the cargo village at the ZIA.

The customs authorities checked those by opening the boxes one after another as it was not possible to scan those big crates handed over to the Air France officials at around 2:00am Saturday.

The Air France Cargo in a letter has notified the general manager of cargo terminal and director at the ZIA of the developments. But, the officials at the Cargo Terminal at ZIA questioned the role of the Air France authorities after the boxes containing the artefacts were handed over them.