SWAT: Swat police arrested a Tiktoker boy for throwing stones at the 7th-century Jahanabad Buddha statue in the Manglawar area of Swat in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.
The boy uploaded his video throwing stones at the Buddha statue and uploaded it on a social media platform TikTok. The video received heavy backlash from locals and cultural activists. They called for the immediate arrest of the culprit and to take strict action against the security guard who was not on duty during the incident.
The boy was identified and caught after his video viral, which he uploaded on TikTok. He has now been identified as Abubakar, who hails Sangota village.
Sangota Police Station House Officer Hayat Khan said that a first information report (FIR) had been registered against the culprit and the absent security guard after both of them were arrested.
Later police produced Abubakar before a local court which sent him on judicial remand. The court later ordered to release the arrested security guard.
The famous Buddha status, regarded as among South Asia’s most giant rock statues, was targeted by the Taliban too back in September 2007. Due to that attack, a part of the Buddha statue’s face blew up.
The damage to the Buddha statue has sparked outrage and concerns among historians, Buddhists, and archaeologists. The Italian archaeological expedition in Pakistan had reconstructed its face using a scientific restoration procedure supervised by recognized archaeologists and specialists.
