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by Reggie Fernando our London Corrospondent

Reports reaching Britain state that the giant Buddha statues in the central Afghan city of Bamiyan blown up by the Taliban early this year may be restored soon.

According to one reprot Karim Khalili who controls Bamiyan following the American air strikes wants to rebuild the two statues from pieces left after their demolition. Khalili has appealed to the world for financial help towards the restoration.

One of the statues 175 feet high was considered as the largest in the world. They were carved in the 3rd and 5th centuries on a rock overlooking the old Silk Road, which runs across Central Asia.

It will be recalled Mullah Muhammed Omar leader of the Taliban who is reported to have escaped from Afghanistan last week, ordered his soldiers in March this year to destroy the statues he described as "Shrines of Infidels".

Although the entire world including Sri Lanka protested, the Taliban blasted the statues with tank fire. This sinful exercise took almost a week.

Another report stated that "Genghis Khan and the barbarians who went through that valley didn't touch the statues, yet the Taliban reduced them to pieces."

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