Kathmandu, Jan 30 (IANS) Close on the heels of Nepal's Christian community warning the government that they would discard their dead in front of the prime minister's office unless granted a burial site of their own, now an ancient Nepali tribe is also up in arms, demanding the same right.
The Kirats, an ancient tribe of mighty hunters who came from Tibet and ruled Nepal for over 1,000 years under 29 kings, have clashed with police in the capital after being prevented from conducting a burial in a forested land belonging to the holiest Hindu shrine in Nepal.
Police said nearly 200 members of the community began protests near the Pashupatinath temple Saturday in the latest incident in the saga of unrest involving the 17th century temple that is also a Unesco-declared World Heritage site.
The protests erupted after a Kirat family from eastern Nepal arrived at the forest adjoining the temple to bury a dead relative.
However, diggers making a pit in the Shleshmantak forest were prevented from burying the body of Oshin Rai from Udaypur after police arrived and intervened.
The intervention came after the Pashupati Area Development Trust, which administers the Hindu temple, decided to put an end to the practice by Christians and Hindus to bury their dead on land belonging to the temple.
The trust says only 10 Hindu sects, called the Dahnami collectively, are allowed to bury their dead on the temple land, as per Hindu customs.
It says non-Hindus are not allowed to bury their dead there and since last month, when a beautification drive started, the trust ordered the demolition of all non-Hindu graves in the forest.
Christians have already started a pressure campaign, asking the government to allot them land to build a cemetery.
Though Nepal, once the only Hindu kingdom in the world, became secular in 2006, religious minorities like Christians say they are still discriminated against.
Now Kirats say though they had asked the government nearly six months ago to allot them land for a graveyard of their own, they have not received any response.
They also say that the trust decided to stop burials by other faiths without giving them prior notice.
Since 2008, the shrine, regarded as one of the holiest Hindu shrines worldwide, has been dragged into various controversies.
First, the Maoist government tried to sack the Indian priests employed at the main shrine, an act that triggered widespread condemnation, but had to revoke the deed after five days.
Now the caretaker government of Nepal has been slapped with a lawsuit for trying to open the treasury of the temple - believed to have been padlocked for over 2,000 years - with Hindus saying it had no right to interfere in religious matters.
http://in.news.yahoo.com/christians-ancient-nepal-tribe-fights-burial-rights-20110130-002339-639.html
Burial ban triggers strike in Udapaypur
Added At: 2011-02-01 11:57 PM
Last Updated At: 2011-02-01 11:57 PM
HIMALAYAN NEWS SERVICE
GAIGHAT: The government ban on non-Hindu burial at the Shleshmantak forest in the Pashupati area has not gone well with the indigenous communities, particularly the Kirats, who used to bury their dead in the forest.
In protest of the ban, Nepal Federation of Indigenous Nationalities (NEFIN) today enforced an hourlong chakkajam. NEFIN district chairman Subhash Kirati informed that they obstructed vehicular movement at the Aadibasi Chowk of Gaighat in protest.
“It’s a blatant Hindu intervention in the cultural practices of the Kirats,” Kirati remarked. Another indigenous leader, Kiran Rai, said the “hegemonic approach” of the Hindus in a secular country had riled them. Rai threatened to launch a stern agitation if the government does not apologise over the ban.
Three days ago, police had intervened and barred family members from burying a deceased, Basin Rai of Balamta, Udayapur, in the forest.
http://www.thehimalayantimes.com/rssReference.php?headline=Burial+ban+triggers++strike+in+Udapaypur&NewsID=274772
Nepali lawmakers released after arrests in cemetery row - Summary
Kathmandu - Nepali police on Monday released demonstrators, including two lawmakers, who were detained earlier in the day for staging protests in a row over a burial ground deemed sacred to Hindus.
The cemetery at the Pashupatinath temple has been mired in controversy after the temple authorities last month barred Christians from burying their dead in the Sleshmantak forest, saying it was reserved for the Dasnami Hindu sect.
Over the weekend, the authorities also banned the indigenous Kirat community from the cemetery, arguing they were not Dasnamis.
But Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal said late Monday that the Kirat community would be allowed to bury their dead in the forest until a new provision had been put in place.
At least a dozen people had been injured in clashes earlier Monday between ethnic Kirats and police in Kathmandu, and 15 people had been arrested.
Kirats were traditionally animists and still bury their dead, despite having had to adopt Hinduism in the 18th century.
http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/365173,cemetery-row-summary.html
Respect indigenous rights: LAHURNIP Added At: 2011-02-01 12:10 AM Last Updated At: 2011-02-01 12:10 AM HIMALAYAN NEWS SERVICE KATHMANDU: Lawyers Association for Human Rights of Nepalese Indigenous Peoples (LAHURNIP) today expressed concern about the decision of Pashupati Area Development Trust (PADT) to bar the burial of Jasram Rai, a Kirati from Sankhuwasabha.
Issuing a press statement, LAHURNIP asked the government to protect, promote and respect the cultural and religious rights of indigenous peoples. It also asked the government to respect secularism and not to work against rule of law.
The statement mentioned that the community had signed an agreement with the government in 1999 on use of the land as their burial site. But, on December 29 last year, the government decided not to allow non-Hindus burial in the area.
The Kirati community had taken Jasram Rai’s body to the forest area of the Hindu shrine for burial at around 8 am yesterday, but was not allowed to bury it. PADT, which administers the affairs of Pashupatinath Temple, refused to let them bury the body.
http://www.thehimalayantimes.com/fullNews.php?headline=Respect+indigenous+rights:+LAHURNIP+&NewsID=274780
Protect the cultural rights of Kirati indigenous community
Posted on 2011-01-31
KATHMANDU, JAN. 31, 2010 Lawyers Association for Human Rights of Nepalese Indigenous Peoples (LAHURNIP) on Tuesday raised a serious concern toward an act of Pashupati Area Development Trust (PADT) for not to allow burying of a dead-body of Jasram Kulung of Sankhuwasabha from Kirati Community at forest near Pashupatinath Temple, one of the Hindu shrines in the capital. The PADT which administers the affairs of Pashupatinath Temple had refused to let them bury the body. Issuing a press statement, LAHURNIP has asked the government to protect and promote rights of indigenous people and to ensure them with cultural and religious right as per international human rights instruments. The statement also asked government to respect the secularism and not to violate the rule of the country and also to encourage for communal riots. According to a statement Kirat community had signed an agreement with the government on 1999 to use the land as their burial area with the then government. Whereas on December 29 last year, the government had decided not to allow non-Hindus to bury their dead in the area, saying it was a part of the clean up and conservation drive in the area, which is enlisted in UNESCO’s World Heritage List. The Kirati community had taken the body of Jasram Rai of Sankhuwasabha to the forested area of the Hindu shrine for burial at around 8 am, but was not allowed to bury.
http://www.lahurnip.com/details.php?id=42
| पशुपतिमा किरातीहरुको समाधिस्थलमा शव अन्त्येष्टि गर्न अवरोध पुर् याएकोबारे............................ |  |  |  |
| Sunday, 30 January 2011 08:30 |
मिति २०६७ माघ १६
सम्मान्नीय प्रधानमन्त्रीज्यु
प्रधानमन्त्रीको कार्यालय
सिहदरवार काठमाडौ
माननीय गृहमन्त्रीज्यु
गृह मन्त्रालय
सिहदरवार काठमाडौं
माननीय संस्कृति मन्त्रीज्यु
संस्कृति मन्त्रालय
सिहदरवार काठमाडौ
विषय ः पशुपतिमा किरातीहरुको समाधिस्थलमा शव अन्त्येष्टि गर्न अवरोध पुर् याएकोबारे ।
उपरोक्त संम्बन्धमा मिति २०६७ माघ १५ गतेका दिन पशुपति क्षेत्रमा अवस्थित किरातीहरुको ऐतिहासिक समाधि स्थलमा उदयपुर ओसियन राईको शव अन्त्येष्टि गर्न प्रहरी र पशुपति क्षेत्र विकास कोषले पुर् याएका अवरोधेबारे २०६७ माघ १६ गते कान्तिपुरमा प्रकाशित समचार प्रति नेपाल आदिवासी जनजाति महासंघको गम्भिर ध्यान अकृष्ट भएको छ । किरातीहरुको ऐतिहासिक समाधिस्थलमा शव अन्त्येष्टिमा प्रहरीवाट भएको दमन र पशुपति क्षेत्र विकास कोषले पुर् याएको अवरोधको घोर निन्दा भत्स्रना गर्दै दोषी प्रहरी माथि तत्काल कारवाही गर्न जोडदार माग गर्दछौ ।
पशुपति क्षेत्रमा अवस्थित किरातीहरुको ऐतिहासिक समाधि स्थल किरातीहरुले निर्विवाद उपभोग गर्न पाउने गरि हालको विवाद टुङ्गो लगाउन पशुपति क्षेत्र विकास कोषले किरातीहरुको संम्बन्धित संघसंसथाका प्रतिनिधिहरुसंग तत्काल वार्तको पहल गर्न जोडदार माग गर्दछौ । किरातीहरुको परम्परा तथा संस्कृति माथी राज्य सत्ताले अनावश्यक हस्ताक्षेप गरेमा नेपाल आदिवासी जनजाति महासंघ सशक्त आन्दोलन गर्नु वाध्य हुने व्यहोरा यसै पत्र मार्फत जानकारी गराउन चहान्छौ ।
आङ काजी शेर्पा किसान
महासचिव
सम्पर्क फोन ९८५१० ४८१८४
http://www.nefin.org.np/news--update/news/608-2011-01-30-08-31-53.html
Nepal Prime Minister steps in to defuse religious row over burialsBy Sudeshna Sarkar,Kathmandu, Feb 1 : The ugly religious row that erupted near one of the holiest Hindu shrines in the world showed signs of calming down Tuesday after Nepal's caretaker Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal intervened, promising status quo to a minority community. The Kirats of Nepal, an ancient hunting tribe that migrated to Nepal from Tibet and ruled the Himalayan state for over 1,000 years, were persuaded by the premier to withdraw their street protests on the assurance that they would be allowed to bury their dead in the forest land owned by the revered Pashupatinath temple till an alternative burial ground was found for them.
Kirats, whose population is estimated to be above one million, are animists who bury their dead. However, with the government failing to allot them a separate burial site of their own, the community has been burying its dead in the Shleshmantak forest skirting the Pashupatinath temple.
"We have a written agreement signed with the Girija Prasad Koirala government almost 13 years ago that says Kirats will be allowed to bury their dead till the government allotted them a graveyard site," said Ang Kaji Sherpa, general secretary of the National Federation of Indigenous Nationalities that is supporting the Kirat protests that started in the capital last week.
"The agreement also said the government will allot a burial site within six months. However, we are still waiting," he added.
The protests, which disrupted traffic near the Pashupatinath temple since Saturday and saw demonstrators clash with riot police, began after the Pashupati Area Development Trust, that runs the 17th century temple, began a new crackdown on non-Hindu burials in the forest, saying it hurt the sentiment of millions of Hindus worldwide.
The trust also said it would demolish the graves of non-Hindus, allowing only 10 Hindu groups, collectively known as the Dashnamis, to continue their burials in the forest.
"It is rank discrimination against indigenous communities at a time Nepal is writing a new constitution to make society inclusive," Sherpa said.
"Pashupatinath, also worshipped as Kirateshwar, the lord of Kirats, is the deity of the Kirat community as well. To enforce such a discriminatory ban, and that too without informing the community, smacks of a conspiracy to destroy the harmony between Nepal's different communities," he added.
Sherpa said the prime minister professed ignorance of the earlier agreement as well as the new crackdown by the temple trust. Nepal also agreed to step up talks with the community to identify a burial site.
Till then, the prime minister has assured Kirats that the burials will continue in the forest.
The caretaker premier's assurance is certain to be put to test Tuesday when Kirats seek to resume a burial that was interrupted Sunday.
The body of Jasram Rai, a 40-year-old who died of blood cancer Saturday, has been lying in the capital without being administered the last rites after his relatives were prevented by armed police from conducting his burial in the controversial forest land Sunday.
Sherpa said Kirats will seek to conclude the burial Tuesday.
The Kirat protests are being watched closely by Nepal's Christian community, who too face a similar plight.
Though Nepal, once the only Hindu kingdom in the world, became officially secular in 2006, the state is yet to end discrimination against the religious minorities that continue in its hidden form.
(Sudeshna Sarkar can be contacted at sudeshna.s@ians.in) --IANS http://www.newkerala.com/news/world/fullnews-137238.html
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By Sudeshna Sarkar | IANS – Sun, Jan 30 1:53 PM IST
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