The Islamic regime follows in the footsteps of the Taliban to destroy ancient Persian heritage

A statement from The Pasargad International Rescue Committee:

People of Iran, People of the world!

Two days ago, Monday, January 22nd, 2007, the Islamic regime’s minister of power and energy announced that next week (i.e. the beginning of ten days of the "Fajr decade" which coincides with the anniversary of Khomeini’s return to Iran), the tankage and submersion of the Sayvand dam would begin. And so it has become clear that the administration of Mr. Ahmadinezhad, using the volatile regional and international atmosphere, intends to destroy a sacred part of Iran’s heritage by implementing the dark and nebulous 15-year-old plan. The plan is to submerge the capital of the father of the Iranian nation, Cyrus the Great, a sacred part of Iran’s ancient history and culture.

This proves what archaeologists, historians, experts and university professors have said regarding the importance of ancient monuments that are in danger of destruction; digs and conducted research over the last two years shows that the Mr. Ahmadinezhad’s administration has set out to utterly wipe out all traces of Iranian heritage, history and culture.

But is this the end of the story? Would the Lake of the Sayvand dam fill up all that easily and the Bolaghi straits be submerged along with it? Although this is the beginning of a catastrophe it is also the beginning of a campaign against a very specific kind of counter-culturalism and anthropological destruction.

The duty of every enthusiast of the Persian culture and other human cultures is to put this reality on display; the Islamic Republic is knowingly and purposefully following in the footsteps of Afghanistan's Taliban where the destruction of the ancient Persian heritage is concerned. Submerging the Sayvand dam is like the Taliban flipping the switch on the explosion of the Buddhas of Bamiyan.

The Pasargad International Rescue Committee calls upon all Iranians, inside and outside Iran, as well as all the people of the world to regularly and indefatigably convey the news of this great cultural injustice by any means necessary to everyone they can possibly inform. In the meantime, the committee also announces that the responsibility of the destruction of every piece of the national and historical Persian heritage is placed squarely and directly on the shoulder of the Islamic regime’s rulers. Without a shadow of a doubt any and all of those members of the totalitarian government who are involved in the perpetration of this disaster will not only, at some point be held legally accountable and answerable, but their names will go down in the annals of Iranian history as the most evil and nefarious of names to be etched in the minds and hearts of the people of Iran forever.

Also of interest: http://www.guardian.co.uk/iran/story/0,12858,1378845,00.html