September 3, 2002	Tuesday	Jamadi-us-Saani24,1423

PARIS, Sept 2: A French archaeological team that was in Afghanistan to locate and excavate a third giant statue of Buddha at Bamiyan has been declared persona-non-grata by local military authorities and was summarily expelled from the country on Sunday.

Last year, two 1500-year old standing statues of Buddha had been destroyed by Afghan’s then pro-Taliban government in a well- publicised incident that elicited worldwide protest, notably in France where French authorities at the Musee Guimet revealed earlier this year that according to their records a third giant statue — this one lying down — was buried nearby.

When, a few weeks ago, authorities at UNESCO in Paris, announced that there were no plans to rebuild the two standing Buddha statues as the cost would prove exorbitant, French authorities decided to send an expedition to Bamiyan in central Afghanistan to excavate — at a relatively minor cost — the third statue of Buddha.

The expedition was headed by Professor Zemaryali Tarzi, who said he had been authorized by Afghan authorities to spend a month at Bamiyan to locate and unearth the statue.