Islamabad, April 19 (IANS) Pakistan announced the International Gandhara Conference on Buddhist Heritage from March 27-31, inviting delegations from Buddhist‑majority countries like Myanmar, Thailand, Sri Lanka and Japan. However, the event aimed to revive tourism by attracting Buddhist pilgrims, secure development grants for heritage preservation and showcase Pakistan as protector of Buddhist heritage was cancelled due to underwhelming international response and credibility issues faced by Pakistan, a report said.

“The cancellation of the event is emblematic of Pakistan’s failure. The demographic vacuum stripped authenticity from its claims. Blasphemy laws and anti‑idol rhetoric contradicted Buddhist tolerance. Mob violence and minority persecution undermined credibility. International scrutiny from Human Rights Watch, Amnesty, USCIRF, and UN experts highlighted Pakistan’s failures. Buddhist countries hesitated to endorse a state that persecutes minorities. Moreover, threats were issued to target the event location and foreign dignitaries if the event is organised. The Gandhara Conference was dismissed as a cynical attempt to monetise ruins rather than honour heritage. Pakistan’s Gandhara revival was never about Buddhism, it was about economic opportunism,” a report in European Times said.

The Gandhara region which stretches between present‑day Taxila in Swat Valley and Peshawar in Pakistan was once considered a luminous centre of Buddhist civilisation and is now on the verge of being erased from history.

Gandhara flourished as a crucible of Greco‑Buddhist art, monastic learning, and cosmopolitan exchange under the Mauryan and Kushan empires between 3rd BCE and 5th CE.

Taxila was a city where Buddhist philosophy intertwined with Hellenistic aesthetics, producing enduring masterpieces such as the Buddha statues of Swat and the Dharmarajika stupa.

Gandhara became a beacon of scholarship by the 4th-5th century CE, where pilgrims travelled from China, Central Asia and beyond.

“But, this brilliance was extinguished with the violent arrival of Islam in the 10th century, which brought persecution, destruction of monasteries, and eventually the disappearance of Buddhism from the soil of Swat region. The hounding of Buddha’s heritage continues even today under the blasphemy laws of Pakistan, which has empowered the radical elements of Pakistan’s society to structurally wipe out minorities without repercussions. What remains today are ruins which are a mute witnesses to a civilisation erased,” a report in European Times added.

The decline of Gandhara in Pakistan was a brutal uprooting as idol worship was considered shirk and punishable by death under strict interpretations of Islamic law.

Buddhist monks faced systematic genocide, temples were destroyed, and communities annihilated.

By the medieval period, Buddhism was removed from the region which is present day Pakistan.

This historical erasure is further increased by Pakistan’s current religious policies. Under blasphemy laws in Pakistan, perceived disrespect towards Islam can lead to death sentences, according to the report.

In the 2023 census, Buddhists in Pakistan were categorised under the category of “Others”, having just 0.11 per cent of the population.

The National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) data showed only 1,884 Buddhists in 2017, majority in Sindh and Punjab.

The number further reduced by 2026, leaving Pakistan with damaged ruins of Buddhist heritage without Buddhists.

This demographic vacuum demonstrates Pakistan’s attempts to promote Gandhara’s ruins internationally while domestically implementing laws that marginalise minorities.

Blasphemy laws are being used in Pakistan as instruments of mob violence and extortion.

A report in European Times said, “The Gandhara region was once a beacon of Buddhist civilisation, a centre of art, philosophy, and scholarship. Its decline was violent, marked by bloodshed and destruction. Today, Pakistan attempts to revive Gandhara through tourism, inviting Buddhist countries to invest in its ruins. Yet the absence of a living Buddhist community, combined with systemic persecution of minorities, makes this initiative opportunistic. The cancellation of the Gandhara Conference is not just a logistical failur, it is a symbolic collapse of Pakistan’s narrative.”

–IANS

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