By IANS
Dhaka : Bangladesh’s Education and Cultural Affairs Adviser Ayub Quadri has resigned following the controversy over the theft of two Paris-bound terracotta statues of Vishnu.
Qadri, a career bureaucrat who performs ministerial functions in the present interim government led by Chief Advisor Fakhruddin Ahmed, sent in his resignation late Wednesday, his wife confirmed. This is the first resignation in the government that completes one year in office on Jan 11.
The two 1,500-year-old statues were part of the consignment bound for France to be part of a special exhibition at the Guimet Museum, Paris. They were stolen while from a warehouse at Zia International Airport last Friday.
As Bangladesh called off the exhibition following a public outcry, Guimet Museum authorities have blamed it for failing to keep the artefacts safely.
The museum might seek international arbitration over the deal signed by the Bangladesh and French governments, BBC Bangla Service reported.
The museum’s curator Vincent Lefèvre, who has worked on the project for the last five years, said it was difficult for him to believe that there would be stronger cultural ties between the two countries in future, New Age newspaper said.
Qadri accepted the responsibility for the missing Vishnu statues. “I don’t know if it’s my personal failure. But as the adviser of the ministry, I must shoulder the responsibility,” he was quoted as saying.
In another development, the government has sent a letter to the French Embassy in Dhaka, communicating its decision not to send the remainder of the 145 artefacts.
It regretted that it could not continue with dispatch of the age-old objects that were to be on display at the Guimet Museum as part of a bilateral agreement. Public sentiment had been the major consideration when making the decision, it added.
A new controversy has arisen with allegations that the artefacts were booked as general cargo with Air France. Under the rules, the French airliner would have to pay only $20 per kg of goods lost, the rate for general goods.
“So, for the two statues weighing 64 kg, the National Museum will get no more than $1,280 (Tk.85,000),” The Daily Star said Thursday.