DELHI MOSQUE IMAM DEFENDS DESTROYING NON-ISLAMIC MONUMENTS IN AFGHANISTAN








DELHI, March 7. /Igor Alexandrov, RIA Novosti Correspondent/. Sayed Ahmad Bukhari, imam of Delhi's historic Juma Masjid mosque, defended Afghanistan's Taliban movement that has decreed all non-Islamic monuments be destroyed.


	RIA Novosti reported that in his speech on the occasion of the Eid-al-Adha Muslim feast, the imam said he endorsed the Taliban's action if it was taken as retaliation for the destruction of the Babri Masjid mosque in Ayodhya, India, on December 6, 1992.


	The imam said a Taliban representative had informed the UN that the Buddhist monuments were being destroyed for just that reason, that is, avenging the demolition of the mosque. "I cannot condemn the Taliban as they are fighting for our cause," Bukhari said.


	The imam added that if the Indian government  agreed to     "remove Hindu idols" from where the mosque was, he would call on the Taliban on behalf of the Muslims not to destroy Afghanistan's religious heritage and agree to negotiate handing the ancient statues of Buddha over to India.