ASIA/NEPAL - The Constitution confirms the secular state, extremist groups attack three churches

Wednesday, 16 September 2015

catholic assembly in nepal

Kathmandhu (Agenzia Fides) - The new Constitution of Nepal, which will be officially promulgated on September 20, confirms the secular nature of the state. The Constituent Assembly rejected the amendment to introduce an article which restores the connotation "Hindu religious country" into the Constitution.
The institutional plan of "secular state" was much appreciated by the Catholic Church and other religious and ethnic minorities, but has generated protests on behalf of some Hindu nationalist groups.
According to local sources of Fides, during the protests, two bombs exploded in two churches in the Jhapa district in eastern Nepal, on September 14, causing some damage but no injuries. In addition, three police officers were wounded on the morning of 15 September, in an attempt to defuse a bomb which remained unexploded in a third church. The suspicion that the attacks on churches were the work of radical Hindu groups, is strengthened by the fact pamphlets of "Hindu Morcha Nepal", a group of extremists, were found at the scene.
Nepal was declared a "secular state" in 2007, after the abolition of the Hindu monarchy, but in the following years we have witnessed the growth of Hindu nationalism, in society and politics, led by the "Rastirya Prajatantra Party-Nepal" (RPP-N).
Among the concerns of Christians in Nepal, in addition to these violent groups, there is also the amendment to Article 31 of the Constitution, which declares "punishable by law any act to convert another person from one religion to another" and "any behavior that endangers the religion of another person". This article could be exploited by fanatical Hindu groups and used to attack Christians, accusing them of proselytizing. (PA) (Agenzia Fides 16/09/2015)


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