KATHMANDU, Nepal — With the government refusing to listen to their three-year plea for an official cemetery and ignoring a protracted hunger strike, Nepal’s Christians are now seeking redress from the Supreme Court.
“Every day, there are two to three deaths in the community, and with each death, we face a hard time with the burial,” said Chari Bahadur Gahatraj, a pastor who filed a petition in the high court March 13 asking it to intervene as authorities of Nepal’s oldest Hindu temple had begun demolishing the graves of Christians. The Pashupati Area Development Trust (PADT), which runs the Pashupatinath temple, said it would no longer allow non-Hindus to use the temple’s forested land.
Judge Awadhesh Kumar Yadav has since ordered the government and PADT not to prevent Christians from using the forest for burials until the dispute is resolved. But Hindu activist Bharat Jangam filed a second writ March 20, saying since the forest was the property of a Hindu temple, non-Hindus should not be allowed to bury their dead there just as churches do not allow Hindu burials. The court decided to hear the two petitions together, and the hearings began April 18.
While two lawyers argued on behalf of the Christians, a cohort of 15 lawyers spoke against their petition. In the face of Christian protests, the government has formed a committee to look into the demand. Christians are asking for cemetery land in all 75 districts of Nepal. “This could be a ploy to buy time and bury the issue,” said a member of the Christian committee formed to advise parliament on drafting the new constitution, who requested anonymity.
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