Riot police have been deployed at Nepal’s holiest Hindu temple to stop protests after the Maoist government tried to throw out Indian priests who have officiated there for generations.
The threat to centuries of tradition at the Pashupati Temple sparked demonstrations by Hindus appalled at changes pushed through by the secular Maoists, who also scrapped Nepal’s Hindu monarchy last year.
“We want this decision scrapped immediately,” said Hariharman Bhandari, one of the Nepalese priests upset by the move.
PHOTO: AFP
“The Maoists have appointed their own people,” the Nepalese priest said.
Dozens of riot police and Maoist volunteers escorted the temple’s new Nepalese priests on Thursday as they visited holy sites around the Pashupati complex, which dates from the 3rd century BC.
Protesters shouted “Down with Maoists,” and “Scrap this decision” as the two priests performed religious ceremonies at the UNESCO-listed world heritage site on the banks of the Bagmati river in Kathmandu.
Pramananda Shakya, who was recently appointed head of the Pashupati Development Trust by the Maoist Prime Minister Prachanda, said reforms to the running of the temple reflected the new Nepal.
“The former royals used to be the patrons of the temple trust and used to approve the selection of the priests. With the changed political situation this tradition has been broken,” Shakya said.
“The prime minister has replaced the king as the patron now,” he said.
Revered by Hindus worldwide and dedicated to the god Shiva, nearly 1 million pilgrims visit Pashupati annually, generating large amounts of cash in donations.
Shakya said that a shake-up was needed to clear up alleged problems over handling of the money.
“We are trying to end the financial irregularities that take place inside the temple, that’s why some people are not happy with our decisions and are protesting,” he said.
The southern Indian Brahmins, who served for centuries as high priests at Pashupati, have refused to perform the special prayers that would hand over responsibility for the temple.
Brahmajyoti Babu Shiva Narayan Das, a 58-year-old Indian sadhu (holy man) who has renounced worldly pursuits and lived off donations at the temple for the last 18 years, said its spiritual purpose was being undermined.
“Today the Maoists have appointed the priests, but what will happen if there is a change in government?” asked the orange-robed, bearded Das.
“I am worried that Pashupati is being used as a playground for politics,” Das said.
The protesting priests have hired lawyers to challenge the appointments in Nepal’s Supreme Court and on Thursday, the court ordered a temporary halt to the new appointments, the court spokesman said.
“The government has been asked to furnish a reply justifying the new appointments,” Supreme Court spokesman Til Prasad Shrestha said.
The former rebel Maoists who now run the impoverished country came to power after winning polls in April.
Before that they waged a decade-long civil war that claimed 13,000 lives.
BRUSHED OFF: An ambassador to Australia previously said that Beijing does not see a reason to apologize for its naval exercises and military maneuvers in international areas China set off alarm bells in New Zealand when it dispatched powerful warships on unprecedented missions in the South Pacific without explanation, military documents showed. Beijing has spent years expanding its reach in the southern Pacific Ocean, courting island nations with new hospitals, freshly paved roads and generous offers of climate aid. However, these diplomatic efforts have increasingly been accompanied by more overt displays of military power. Three Chinese warships sailed the Tasman Sea between Australia and New Zealand in February, the first time such a task group had been sighted in those waters. “We have never seen vessels with this capability
A Japanese city would urge all smartphone users to limit screen time to two hours a day outside work or school under a proposed ordinance that includes no penalties. The limit — which would be recommended for all residents in Toyoake City — would not be binding and there would be no penalties incurred for higher usage, the draft ordinance showed. The proposal aims “to prevent excessive use of devices causing physical and mental health issues... including sleep problems,” Mayor Masafumi Koki said yesterday. The draft urges elementary-school students to avoid smartphones after 9pm, and junior-high students and older are advised not
Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr has fired his national police chief, who gained attention for leading the separate arrests of former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte on orders of the International Criminal Court and televangelist Apollo Carreon Quiboloy, who is on the FBI’s most-wanted list for alleged child sex trafficking. Philippine Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin did not cite a reason for the removal of General Nicolas Torre as head of the 232,000-member national police force, a position he was appointed to by Marcos in May and which he would have held until 2027. He was replaced by another senior police general, Jose
POWER CONFLICT: The US president threatened to deploy National Guards in Baltimore. US media reports said he is also planning to station troops in Chicago US President Donald Trump on Sunday threatened to deploy National Guard troops to yet another Democratic stronghold, the Maryland city of Baltimore, as he seeks to expand his crackdown on crime and immigration. The Republican’s latest online rant about an “out of control, crime-ridden” city comes as Democratic state leaders — including Maryland Governor Wes Moore — line up to berate Trump on a high-profile political stage. Trump this month deployed the National Guard to the streets of Washington, in a widely criticized show of force the president said amounts to a federal takeover of US capital policing. The Guard began carrying
RSS