कांक्रेविहारमा बुद्धको मूर्ति राख्न नदिई धार्मिक तथा सांस्कृतिक अधिकार उल्लङ्घन गरेको भन्दै आदिवासीद्वारा राष्ट्रसंघमा उजुरी

१४ असोज २०७०

सरकारले  सुर्खेतको कांक्रेविहारमा बुद्धको मूर्ति राख्न नदिएर आदिवासी जनजातिका धार्मिक तथा सांस्कृतिक अधिकार उल्लङ्घन गरेको सम्बन्धमा आदिवासी जनजातिका संस्थाहरुले संयुक्त राष्ट्रसंघमा उजुरी दिएका छन् ।

आदिवासीका अधिकारसम्बन्धि, सांस्कृतिक अधिकारका क्षेत्रमा तथा धार्मिक स्वतन्त्रतासम्बन्धि संयुक्त राष्ट्रसंघका समाधिक्षकहरुलाई सोमबार पठाइएको अत्यन्त जरूरी पत्राचारमा लाहुर्निपसहित आदिवासी जनजाति र बौद्ध संघसंस्थाका प्रतिनिधिहरुले सो उजुरी गरेका हुन् । उजुरीमा ११ जेठ २०७०मा बुद्ध जयन्तीको अवसरमा बुद्धमूर्ति स्थापनार्थ निकालिएको झाँकीमा प्रहरीले गरेको हस्तक्षेपसहित बुद्धमूर्ति स्थापनामा सरकारले गरेका अवरोधहरु व्याख्या गरिएको छ । उक्त हस्तक्षेपमा प्रहरीको निर्मम कुटाईबाट ५३ जना घाइते भएको वा तिनको धनमाल लुटिएको थियो ।

मन्त्रिपरिषद् अध्यक्षसहित सम्बन्धित निकायका प्रतिनिधिहरुसँग पटकपटक भेट गरी मौखिक तथा लिखित उजुरी दिनुका साथै विभिन्न बिरोधका कार्यक्रमहरु गरे तापनि सरकारबाट विवाद समाधानको लागि कुनै पहल नभएको र उल्टै कुनै हालतमा कांक्रेविहारमा बुद्धको मूर्ति राख्न नदिने भन्दै अप्रत्यक्ष धम्की दिइएको उजुरीमा उल्लेख गरिएको छ । यसबाट आदिवासी जनजातिका धार्मिक तथा सांस्कृतिक अधिकारका साथै अन्तरिम संविधानमा प्रत्याभूत गरिएको धर्मनिरपेक्षताको सिद्धान्तसमेत उल्लङ्घन भएको भनिएको छ ।

कांक्रेविहारमा  बुद्ध मूर्ति प्रतिस्थापन गर्न अनुमति दिई आदिवासी जनजातिका धार्मिक तथा सांस्कृतिक अधिकार उल्लङ्घन रोक्न र तिनका अधिकारको सम्मान गर्न नेपाल सरकारलाई सिफारिस गर्न उजुरीकर्ताहरुले संयुक्त राष्ट्रसंघका समाधिक्षकहरुलाई अनुरोध गरेका छन् । साथै नेपाल सरकारलाई आदिवासी जनजातिका अधिकार सम्मान गराउन संयुक्त राष्ट्रसंघ तथा अन्य सम्बन्धित संस्थाहरुले सहजीकरण गर्न सिफारिस गर्न पनि अनुरोध गरिएको छ ।

उजुरीको मस्यौदा खस नेपाली भाषामा पढ्न यहाँ क्लिक गर्नुहोस् ।

Source: LAHURNIP

Indigenous peoples submit complaint to the UN on violations of religious and cultural rights in Surkhet

1 October 2013

Indigenous peoples’ organizations have submitted a complaint to the United Nations concerning the violations of religious and cultural rights of indigenous peoples due to denial of installation of Buddha idol in Kakre Bihar, a monastery in Surkhet district of mid-western Nepal.

Representatives of indigenous peoples’ and Buddhist organizations, on Monday, emailed the complaint in an urgent communication to the UN Special Rapporteurs on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, in the field of cultural rights and on freedom of religion or belief. The complaint details obstructions by the Government to install the idol even after fulfilling all necessary procedures, including police intervention on the rally taken out on 25 May 2013 for installing the idol. More than 50 devotees were reportedly injured or looted of their belongings in the brutal police assault.

Despite holding number of meetings with the concerned authorities, including Chairperson of the Council of Ministers and peaceful protest programs, the Government has not taken any measure to resolve the dispute. Rather there has been indirect threat to prevent installing idol in the area at any cost. This has violated religious and cultural rights of the indigenous peoples as well as the principle of secularism as declared in the Interim Constitution of Nepal, 2007.

The complainants have requested the Special Rapporteurs to recommend the Government to permit installation of idol in the area, halt violations of and respect religious and cultural rights of indigenous peoples. Further, they have urged the Rapporteurs to recommend the United Nations and other concerned agencies to facilitate the Government to respect those rights.

Click here to read the complaint

Source: LAHURNIP

सुर्खेत काँक्रेविहार बुद्धमूर्ति प्रतिस्थापना संयुक्त सरोकार समितिको चोथौं चरणको शान्ति पूर्ण आन्दोलन घोषणा

सुर्खेत जिल्लाका स्थानीय बौद्धमार्गीहरूले लाटीकोईली गा।वि।स। वडा नं। ८ अवस्थित काँक्रेविहार परिसरमा राष्ट्रिय विभूती भगवान् बुद्धको एक थान प्रतिमा स्थापना गर्ने क्रममा स्थानीय प्रहरी प्रशासनले रोक लगाएपछि त्यसको विरोधमा सम्पूर्ण बौद्धमार्गी तथा आदिबासी जनजातिहरू आन्दोलनरत रहेको व्यहोरा सर्व विदीतै छ । हामीले विगत विभिन्न मितिमा यथा शीघ्र पूर्व सहमति अनुसारबुद्धमूर्तिलाई सोहि स्थानमा प्रतिस्थापना गर्नको लागि शान्ति पूर्ण आन्दोलनद्वारा नेपाल सरकारको सम्बन्धित निकायलाई ध्यानाकर्शण गराउँदै तेस्रो चरणसम्मको शान्ति पूर्ण आन्दोलनको कार्यक्रम सफलता पूर्वक सम्पन्न भएको छ । शान्तिपूर्ण आन्दोलनलाई सहयोग गर्नु हुने सम्पूर्ण नेपाली जनताको साथै न्यायपूर्ण आन्दोलनको कार्यक्रमलाई समाचार संकलन, छायांकन तथा सम्प्रेषण गरी सहयोग गर्नु हुने सञ्चारकर्मीहरूलाई हामी आन्दोलनकारी संघ सस्थाहरूको तर्फबाट हार्दिक आभार प्रकट गर्दछौं ।
हामी सरोकारवाला बौद्ध धर्मावलम्बी संघ संस्थाहरू र नेता नेतृत्वको संयुक्त प्रतिनिधी मण्डलले यो घटनाको कडा विरोध गर्दै बुद्धको मूर्तिलाई १५ दिन भित्र प्रतिस्थापना गरियोस् भनेर मितिः २०७० असार ८ गते नेपाल सरकार अन्तरिम चुनावी मन्त्री परिषद्का अध्यक्ष सम्माननीय खिलराज रेग्मीज्यूलाई ज्ञापन–पत्र बुझाएका थियौं । तर उक्त समय सिमा भित्र बुद्धमूर्ति प्रतिस्थापना गर्ने मागलाई सरकारबाट व्यवस्था गर्न सकेको छैन् । त्यसकारण हामी सम्पूर्ण बौद्धमार्गीहरूले सरकारको यस्तो रवैया बिरूद्ध खेद प्रकट गर्दै तेस्रो चरणसम्मको शान्तिपूर्ण आन्दोलन सफलता पूर्वक सम्पन्न गरी चोथौं चरणको शान्ति पूर्ण आन्दोलन घोषणा गर्न पत्रकार साथीहरू माझ यो पत्रकार सम्मेलन आयोजना गरेका छौं ।

चौथौं चरणको आन्दोलनको कार्यक्रम

१) २०७०।०६।८ पत्रकार सम्मेलन १ः०० एः पmोनिज, अनामनगर

२) २०७०।०६।११÷१२ मन्त्रिपरिषद अध्यक्षलाई संयुक्त राष्ट्रसंघको भवन प्रवेश द्वारमा बौद्धमार्गी र विभिन्न आदिबासी जनजातिहरूले प्लेकाड र कालो झण्डा प्रदर्शन न्यूयोर्क

३) २०७०।०६।१० आन्दोलनकारी संघ÷संस्थाहरू बीच बिचार गोष्ठी १२ वजे बौद्ध गडेन भान्साघर, तीनचुली, बौद्ध

४) २०७०।०६।१५ विभिन्न धार्मिक समुदाय, नागरीक समाज बुद्धि जिवीहरूसँग आन्तरक्रिया कार्यक्रम १–३ काठमाडौं

५) २०७० असोज महिना भित्र धर्म निरपेक्ष राज्यको सिद्धान्त विपरीत राज्य सरकारले राष्ट्रिय विभूति गौतम वुद्ध लगायत विभिन्न धार्मिक समुदाय माथि गरेको विभेदको विरुद्धमा धरान सुनसरी,मकवानपुररचितवन,पोखरा,लुम्बिनी, दाङ्ग र सुर्खेतमा क्षेत्रिया विरोध सभा गर्ने

हाम्रो मागहरू

१) सुर्खेत, काँक्रेबिहार परिसरमा राख्न खोजीएको बुद्धको सो मूर्तिलाई सोही स्थानमा नै प्रतिस्थापना गर्नु पर्ने ।

२) बुद्ध जयन्तीको पावन अवसरमा सुर्खेतमा बौद्धमार्गीहरूको झाँकी ¥याली माथि प्रहरी प्रशासनले गरेको कुटपिट र दुव्र्यवहार प्रति स्थानीय प्रशासनबाट स्थानीय बौद्धमार्गीहरू समक्ष सार्वजनिक रूपमा माफी माग्नु पर्ने ।

३) आगामी दिनमा मुलुकको कुनै पनि भूभागमा रहेको बौद्ध धर्मावलम्बीहरूको आस्थाको केन्द्र गोन्पा, विहार, बही, बहाल, चैत्य, मूर्ति आदि आस्थाको केन्द्र रहेको क्षेत्र वा स्थानहरूमा बौद्धमार्गीहरूमाथि यस्ता दुव्र्यवहार नहुने कुराको सरकारबाट ग्यारेन्टी ९सुनिश्चितता० गर्नु पर्ने ।

सुर्खेत काँक्रेविहार बुद्धमूर्ति प्रतिस्थापना संयुक्त सरोकार समिति

Apex court moved to protect monasteries

Added At:  2011-01-23 10:51 PM  

Last Updated At: 2011-01-23 10:51 PM

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

HIMALAYAN NEWS SERVICE

KATHMANDU: Nepal Ahimsavadi Boudha Dharma Vishwoshanti Chakra Sangh on Friday moved the Supreme Court seeking a court order to the government to protect and preserve thousands of Buddhist monasteries in the country.

NABDVCS general secretary Prem Dorjebal Lama filed the petition stating that although monasteries were in urgent need of protection, the government was not paying due attention, therefore, an order from the apex court was necessary.

The petition says that the authorities have paid no attention to preserve the monasteries citing absence of a specific Act even though Article 23 (2) of the interim constitution of Nepal has ensured the right to religion.

According to NABDVCS, there are 26,500 monasteries that are more than 1,000 years old in the country.

Similarly there are 74,100 monasteries that are up to 1,000 years old and 325 that are 500 years old. The number of monasteries that were built more than a hundred years ago stands at 1,348.

NABDVCS said that the government’s annual expenditure of Rs 20 million was not sufficient to preserve the monasteries in the country.

http://www.thehimalayantimes.com/rssReference.php?headline=Apex+court+moved+to++protect+monasteries+&NewsID=274051

NEPAL | Indigenous People Seek More, Get Less

By Marty Logan KATHMANDU, Jul 21, 2005 (IPS) - The glass bangles on their arms are shattered, they are forbidden to put saffron-coloured powder in their hair and to wear red - reserved for those "blessed" with a husband - for the rest of their lives. Widows in Hindu societies are traditionally treated in ways that today have become striking symbols of paternalism.  These rituals are still widely practised in the Hindu Kingdom of Nepal, but journalist Khim Ghale says the now frequent reports about widows' lives "do not touch me". Ghale is among the 41 percent of the Himalayan country's 26 million people who come from indigenous nationalities ('janajati adivasi'), many of which do not practise Hinduism. A reporter for the past six years at 'Kantipur' daily newspaper, Ghale says many of his fellow journalists, Hindus, have become obsessed with reporting the 'widow', story but when he tries to explain to them how his Gurung culture treats such women "they laugh". They also dismiss his arguments that Nepal's janajatis have the right to study at higher levels in their mother tongues, instead of in the country's only official language, Nepali, and perhaps English. Worse, says Ghale, issues like language rarely get raised here publicly. "We have so many problems, we have so many issues, why can't the media report these?" asks Ghale, vice-president of the Association of Nepalese Indigenous Nationalities Journalists (ANIJ) in an interview. ANIJ was formed in 1999, both to find some room in the nation's newspapers and airwaves for discussion of the issues that matter most to the 59 officially recognised indigenous groups in Nepal, and to push the nation's media managers to make space for janajati journalists. Indirectly, the organisation was a product of the 1990 democratic "spring", when activists forced the then king to accept multi- party democracy in one of Asia's poorest nations. Another child of the decade that followed was the Nepal Federation of Indigenous Nationalities (NEFIN), an umbrella group that speaks for 49 janajati groups in Nepal. After 1990, "in terms of material benefit we didn't get anything, but at least we got this institution ... we have been able to establish our identity (and) janajatis are now aware of their rights," says NEFIN General Secretary Om Gurung. Today NEFIN is known as an outspoken organisation with strong support from the international community - but it is still pushing Nepali society to recognise that the country's indigenous people are different. That struggle was set back this week when the government of King Gyanendra Bir Bikram Shah cut spaces reserved for janajatis (along with women and dalits, or "untouchables") in the civil service, replacing a 10 percent allotment with the possibility for "positive discrimination" in individual cases. At a time when members of Nepal's indigenous movement are demanding janajatis should be represented in the civil service and higher education according to their population, the new rules are unacceptable, says Gurung. "If they don't revise this policy, we'll take any steps (necessary) against the government ... we'll have to be radical if the government does not show concern." Such words sound an ominous echo in today's Nepal. For nearly a decade security forces have been waging a bloody fight against Maoists who now control most of the countryside, and who pointedly woo the janajatis and dalits who compose most of their ranks by stressing their oppression by the "higher" castes. "Janajatis are suffering (at the hands of) both sides," says Santa Bahadur Gurung, head of an independent office created by a former government to deal with janajati issues. "Maoists say to them, 'we are doing these things, we are fighting, for you'. So the government should take very seriously at this point the janajatis' and dalits' demands (and ask) 'what can be done as soon as possible'?" he adds in an interview. Established in 2002 but given office space only after a year of prodding, Santa Gurung's National Foundation for Development of Indigenous Nationalities (NFDIN) is fiercely independent but its chief knows his limits. "I cannot protest to the government; I cannot demand from the government. What I can do is request from the government." An academic by training, Santa Gurung is methodically building NFDIN's capacity to assists janajatis. Working with NEFIN, the office classified Nepal's indigenous groups into five categories, from "endangered" to "advanced". Its strategy is to assist the more developed groups to deal with cultural concerns, like language and education, and to provide more basic economic support to the groups at the opposite end of the scale. But NEFIN's Om Gurung says the indigenous movement as a whole has taken a further step, realizing, "without political rights we cannot achieve our socio-economic rights". Nepal's indigenous people are amazingly diverse. One group, the Newars - known as the indigenous people of the Kathmandu Valley - has the highest per capita income of any caste or ethnic group in Nepal, while overall, janajatis rank lowest on the human development index (0.299). Two dominant Hindu castes, Brahmin and Chhetri, rate 0.441 and 0.348 on the index, according to NFDIN figures. Janajati groups account for the vast majority of the 106 languages counted in the 2001 census. Significantly, says expert Harka Gurung, "social demographic data of the last decade clearly evidence a strong tendency towards identity assertion based on ethnicity, language and religion". For example, only four of 19 indigenous groups for which data were available lost mother tongue speakers from 1991 to 2001. Also, there was huge growth during the decade in the number of individuals from janajati groups that traditionally practise Buddhism or traditional ('Kiranti') religion who identified themselves as doing so. At the same time, individuals practising Hinduism declined in relation to population growth. Despite their diversity, leaders of Nepal's janajatis agree on a core set of demands, says Om Gurung: freedom of religion; reservation systems in government and schools; proportional representation in decision-making positions; and, in the long term, regional autonomy based on the right to self-determination. Pramila Rai and GS Rampyari say just making indigenous women aware is a huge challenge for their group, the National Indigenous Women Federation - - Nepal. "We are happy to have (sustained) this organisation for seven years ... especially because as women we have our homes, our children, our work (outside the house) also. All these things we have to manage," says Rai. The women argue that Brahmins and other "upper-caste" people who control the government do not make their task easier. For example, when officials previously set aside spaces for janajati women to enter the civil service, 90 percent of the slots went to Newari women. Authorities "come up with all these stupid things ... to make us fight among ourselves," says Rampyari. Helping indigenous people access their rights is the goal of the Janajati Empowerment Project (JEP) a three-year, 2.6-million-U.S. dollar endeavour just launched by NEFIN and the Enabling State Programme (ESP) of the UK Department for International Development. The JEP aims to: strengthen indigenous organisations, increase awareness among janajatis, make authorities more responsive to those rights, and strengthen the role of indigenous people in policy-making, says ESP's Bimal Tandukar. "What we are trying to do is mainstream the issues ... people who are at the policy level never tried to listen." Successive governments since 1990 promised in their five-year plans to focus on janajati people, but "in practice it was never implemented," he adds in an interview. Tandukar recognizes that the JEP is controversial, although he says the government, which has a seat on the project steering committee, has not objected to it. "Some people think (such a programme) is very necessary because of the conflict" but "conservatives think this sort of programme will further divide the (Nepali) people". Om Gurung says he hears the latter argument more and more since the king fired the government and took power on Feb. 1. Members of the monarch's handpicked Council of Ministers "talk about one nation, one culture, one language. They are a monolithic type of government. They don't accept plurality or cultural diversity." (END) http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=29588