Nepal Mourning

Dear Editor

The news about brutal and outrageous act of killing 12 Nepalese cold bloodedly in Iraq was profoundly shocking. Words are scarce to define this horrible incident. As many as 200,000 Nepalese are working in the Middle East, and these 12 Nepalese civilians at their own risk entered the conflict ridden zone. The Nepalese government tried to create a public sphere by approaching Al-Arabia and Al-Jazeera to contact the captors and captives. In vain with no call from the other party setting any deadline (demands) or offering to talk the Iraqi militant group Jaish Ansal al-Sunna group (an affli ate of Al-Qaeda) had carried out this heinous act. This medieval obscurantism should be condemned by all including the international community, religious leaders and students at large.

We believe in that the only medium for rooting out fundamentalism is through a discourse in the public sphere. The bullet does not play any role in the rational world. Nepal, a small power (?) and impoverished state lack resources as such to protect her citizens abroad. Neither could it muster support from international community including human rights organizations and ILO (it raises question about unarmed labourers in the midst of armed conflict). This is the worst setback in Nepal’s diplomatic history. India’s serious diplomatic exercise yielded a successful release of her hostages. Government needs to regulate manpower agencies which are sending people to conflict prone regions.

The latest news of Nepal on the contrary was "An Indefinite Curfew in Kathmandu." The sad story is that the student protests against inactivity of the government to the hostage crisis turned violent, and more so Jama Masjid in Kathmandu was torched down. Even though religious dynamics of conflict would not find place in a self-declared Hindu Nepal which is infact a celebrated de facto secular state. But this event will directly affect the perception among common Nepalese about Islam and Islamic world. This is actually Nepal’s 9/11 in foreign soil, let alone the Maoist insurgency.

We feel religious moderates and reform-oriented Muslim clerics are not highlighted in the media. It amounts to the enigma of Islamic society and stereotypicality of equating Islam with fundamentalism. The militant can come out of incivility by handing the bodies to the concerned authorities.

Rajeev Kunwar
School of International Relations
Raj Kumar Suwal
School of Indian Legal Thought
Mahatma Gandhi University
Kottayam, Kerala-686 560

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