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Nepal protests against Indian priests continue | The agitating Priest Appointment Joint Struggle Committee (PAJSC) and Unified CPN (Maoist) supporters on Sunday continued with their protests in and around
the Pashupatinath Area against the appointment of Indian priests at the holy Pashupaitnath
temple. Protestors chanted slogans against the appointment of Indian priests and
obstructed traffic at Purano Baneshwor, Gaushala, Mitrapark, Jayabageshwori, and
Chabahil, reports Nepal News. They also demanded the resignation of Prime Minister
Madhav Kumar Nepal and Culture Minister Manindra Rijal over the issue. The obstruction
caused long traffic snarls in the area and threw traffic out of gear in other
parts of the city including ring road for couple of hours. Police intervened in
the demonstration and arrested some protestors also. PAJSC has accused the police
administration of using excessive force to quell their demonstration and torturing
protestors who have been arrested. PAJSC has been protesting since last week following
the Indian priests' appointment at the most revered Hindu temple in the country.
It has been demanding that Nepali nationals should also be considered while appointing
top priests at the temple, that the appointment be made through open competition
among both Nepali and Indian nationals, that the finances and expenses of the
Pashupatinath Area Development Trust (PADT) should be made public and more transparency
on the utilization of money that devotees offer, among others. Newly appointed
Indian priests in Pashupatinath, Girish Bhatta and Raghavendra Bhatta, brought
from Karnataka state of India last week, had entered the temple amid tight security
and started worship on Saturday morning. The government had deployed an estimated
1,000 security personnel in and around the temple for this after Maoist and PAJSC
members entered the temple and thrashed the newly-appointed Indian priests on
Friday. India also reacted very strongly to the incident. "The attack on the newly
appointed Indian priests, Girish Bhatt and Raghavendra Bhatt, at the revered and
sacred Pashupatinath temple on September 4 has caused deep anguish and serious
concern in India . The matter was immediately taken up through our Embassy in
Kathmandu at the highest levels in the Government of Nepal and our concerns conveyed,"
India 's Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement. Indian ambassador Rakesh
Sood had also visited Pashupati temple Saturday morning and condemned the beating
of Indian priests. Briefly speaking to reporters, Sood said he had taken the incident
very seriously. |
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