Four arrested for vandalising 1,700-year old Buddha statue in Pakistan

A life-sized statue of Buddha that was smashed into pieces with a sledgehammer by construction workers in Pakistan’s northwest Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province belonged to the Gandhara civilisation and was nearly 1,700 years old, a senior official has said.

Four persons were arrested for vandalising the statue that was discovered during excavation at an agriculture farm in tehsil Takht Bhai of Mardan district. The suspects had followed the orders of a local Maulvi.

The arrests were made after a video went viral on social media showing a man smashing the statue, parts of which were still embedded underground, into pieces with a sledgehammer. Other construction workers can be seen looking on as the statue is being destroyed.