Nepal’s ‘communal harmony’ remains intact

September 8, 2004
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Kathmandu: Hardly had the news broken that twelve Nepalese youths were butchered by some fanatical elements in Iraq last week, Kathmandu population came into violent action in retaliation to the Iraqi incident.

The news broke on Tuesday afternoon. The government, had it been wise enough, could and should have understood the gravity of the impending devastating situation that would follow and taken appropriate measures to bring under control the situation emerging thereafter, could have easily done so but it did not do so.

The result: Kathmandu city was torn apart by the spontaneous reaction to the ghastly Iraq incident which was only but natural. However, that was not all.

When some anti-social, disintegrative forces in collaboration with those who wished Nepal’s communal harmony to go to the dogs came to the streets and created panic of the order that was simply unprecedented in Nepal’s history.

In the process, most unfortunately, some of the popular and most revered mosques of the Muslim brethren were set on fire and the police men just opposite to the mosque could do little to prevent the sacrosanct mosque from being burnt.

Eye witnesses say had the police been on time, the mosques would have been saved and the culprits brought to book. However, this did not happen resulting in hurting the sentiments of the muslim community.

Nepali Muslim brethren, nevertheless, did not pay much attention to this fanatic act but instead dubbed the entire event as to have been perpetrated by certain divisive and communal forces which do not want to see Nepal living in total communal harmony, as it has lived in the past seven hundred years.

Thanks to the kind sentiments that emanated from the aggrieved community, the Muslims, that a great disaster was averted and that too wisely.

The fact is that the wound is healing.

An unprecedented peace and communal harmony rally was organized in Kathmandu and in other towns of Nepal by the leaders of practically all of the available religions in Nepal who unequivocally urged for the maintenance of peace, tranquility and communal harmony in the country at any cost.

Such rallies rarely could be seen elsewhere other than in Nepal. In doing so, this country has once again demonstrated that Hindu-Muslim brotherhood is impenetrable even if some tries to penetrate into it.

When the miscreants did the devastation with full energy, the government came to its senses and imposed curfew orders. Better late than never, the prohibitory orders did work. However, the government is yet to bring the extremists who created mayhem in the country to book. A commission is there but how long it would take for investigation is any body’s guess.

Nepali population deserves deep appreciation for having worked hard to maintain the longstanding communal harmony in between Muslims and the Hindus and even in trying times of the sort that we witnessed last week.

No to such incidents that shatter our hard earn communal harmony!