Nepal assures India of security to Pashupatinath priests

India has conveyed its ‘deep anguish’ and ‘serious concern’ to Nepal over the manhandling of two Indian priests working at the Pashupatinath temple in Kathmandu on Friday, Sept 4.

‘Indian Ambassador Rakesh Sood has taken up the matter with Nepal Home Minister Bhim Bahadur Rawal and Culture Minister Sarat Singh Bhandari’, External Affairs Minister S M Krishna told reporters in Bangalore.

The two priests -- Girish Bhatta and Raghavendra Bhatta in their early thirties hail from Karnataka.

‘The Nepal Ministers have assured our envoy that steps will be taken to ensure safety of the priests’, Krishna said.

The foreign office spokesman also issued a formal statement here on the subject, saying that Nepalese authorities had apprehended over 25 persons including the Maoist ring leader of the attack and that the Nepalese authorities have assured (India of) additional steps to ensure the safety and security of Indian priests in Nepal.

Krishna in his media interaction said, India is aware that there is Maoist pressure on the temple authorities to prevent the Indian priests from conducting religious ceremonies.

Following Friday attack, Nepal government provided a personal security officer to the head priest of the Pashupatinath temple. A platoon of armed police is deployed at the fifth century shrine visited by Indians and Nepalese alike.

’We are also in touch with the Pashupatinath Area Development Trust; they have enhanced the security around the temple and they have provided enough security to the priests where they stay and where they operate, the External Affairs Minister told a questioner.

After the incident, Nepal government provided a personal security officer to the head priest of the temple and a platoon of armed police was deployed at the shrine.

According to reports some 40-50 Maoists, posing as devotees, barged into the temple at about half past one on Friday afternoon and broke open the door of a room where the priests were preparing for daily prayers. They were dragged to the outer gate, and beaten up; their clothes and sacred thread were torn. The priests were badly injured; one of them suffered a black eye before the police could rescue them.

Indian priests work in Nepalese temples under a tradition that goes back to several centuries.

Likewise, priests from Nepal perform puja in Kashi Vishwanath temple in Kashi, also known as Varanasi and Banaras. In recent months however, the Maoists have been campaigning against the Indian priests. In fact, the short-lived Maoist government of Prachanda changed the rules that felicitated the recruitment of Indian priests for conducting daily puja at the Pashupatinath temple.

Girish and Raghavendra Bhatta were selected by a three-member selection committee; they joined duty a couple of months back.

Indian Foreign Office Statement on the incident

“ The attack on the two newly appointed Indian priests, Girish Bhatt and Raghavendra Bhatt, at the revered and sacred Pashupatinath temple in Kathmandu on September 4, 2009, 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.

2. As per age old tradition and custom, Pashupatinath temple appoints priests from India. In this instance, after receipt of appointment orders from the Prime Minister of Nepal on September 2, 2009, the two priests were doing shuddikaran anushthan behind closed doors for joining puja duties from 5th September as required by temple customs. At about 1330 hours on 4th September, 10-12 Maoist cadres, led by Punya Prasad Pandey (ex-member of Pashupati Area Development Trust/PADT) and Ramesh Dongel (ex-member of PADT), barged into the room where the two Indian priests were doing the anushthan, and assaulted and man-handled them.

3. The Ambassador of India in Kathmandu took up the matter immediately at the political level and the Police authorities were also contacted. Senior Nepali Police officers visited the site and have deployed a new security contingent. A team from the Embassy of India, Kathmandu, visited the Pashupatinath Temple to reassure the Indian priests. We understand that the Nepalese authorities have apprehended over 25 persons in connection with this incident, including the ringleader.

4. The Nepalese authorities at the highest level have assured us that they are taking additional steps to ensure the safety and security of Indian priests in Nepal to resolve the problem.

5. We strongly believe that this unprovoked and criminal act of violence goes against the grain of the civilisational ties of friendship that have existed since time immemorial between the peoples of Nepal and India. The safety and security of Indian citizen’s abroad is an abiding and core concern of the Government of India and we continue to closely monitor the situation surrounding yesterday’s unfortunate incident in Kathmandu.”

-Asian Tribune -.