Bangladesh scrapped the exhibition at the Guimet-Museum, amid claims that France could not be trusted with some of the country's finest cultural treasures.
The theft of the two representations of Vishnu, sparked a political crisis in Bangladesh and prompted the resignation of Ayub Quadri, the cultural affairs adviser.French officials pointed out, however, that the 1,500-year-old statues were stolen amid insufficient security controls in Dhaka, and claimed that the exhibition had fallen victim to a plot involving art-traffickers and opponents of the Bangladeshi regime.
The artworks disappeared from Zia international airport, Dhaka, before they could be loaded on to an Air France aircraft for Paris, where the first important international exhibition of Bangladeshi relics was due to open next month.
With the controversy over the loss of the statues increasing in Dhaka, the Bangladeshi government withdrew authorisation for 143 remaining relics to leave the country and asked Guimet-Museum to return th 42 objects that had already arrived safely.
French authorities believe that the thefts were organised by corrupt Bangladeshi officials colluding with art-traffickers and government critics.
In a statement, the French-Embassy in Dhaka pointed to "a conspiracy to embarrass France and Bangladesh".The exhibition of statues, paintings, manuscripts and coins dating from the 3rd century BC to 19th century had already provoked fierce debate in Bangladesh, where opponents attempted to stop the loan of the artefacts with legal action.
Protests continued even after the Supreme Court approved the transfer of the artefacts to France in October.
Shamsuzzaman Khan, a former director of the Bangladesh National Museum, said: "The government should not have agreed to send them abroad."Intellectuals and artists also opposed the exhibition, saying that France had never returned works loaned for display in the 1950s.
Drafted Via The Times, Paper-Edition, 28 Dec 2007.
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