Let’s help maintain religious and communal harmony and unity

Editorial

The recent incidents of social disharmony and dispute surfacing in some parts of the country including eastern Nepal town Dharan has alarmed many patriotic Nepalese. Nepal has long been displaying social harmony, religious tolerance and diversity in unity. However, the type of incidents that erupted in Dharan is not of our origin. We have grown up in a culture that has not witnessed disharmony, conflict and dispute of such kind. Different political parties, civil society members and the National Human Rights Commission have appealed to all to maintain social, religious and communal harmony, and also respect the religious beliefs of other communities. The incident was the result of a fake social media post that is aimed at breaking social harmony and order and bring about disharmony and tension. We all must be cautious abut such a conspiracy hatched by unwanted elements. Although Nepal has turned into a secular state from the erstwhile Hindu state, the overwhelming majority of the people are either Hindus or Buddhists, who do not believe in cow slaughtering. We are grown up in a society, where Ahimsa Paramodharma persists. We believe in co-existence and harmony not only among human beings, but also with animals and all other creatures. Our constitution prohibits slaughtering of cows, which is regarded as Goddess Laxmi. The domestic animal is also regarded as Mata or Mother, as she gives milk full of nutrition. We make our house pure by cleaning our house with cow dung known as Gobar and consume cow urine or Go-mutra as medicine. We need to honour our constitution and laws and also respect each other’s culture, tradition and religious belief.

Everybody should understand that slaughtering a cow is punishable by law even though Nepal was declared a secular state. The new constitution of Nepal has given all castes and communities the right to observe their faiths and cultures without infringing upon the religious and cultural beliefs and sentiments of other castes and communities. The constitution do not allow any one to covert religion on the basis of any temptation or monetary benefit. Therefore, it is the duty and responsibility of each and every Nepali to abide by the constitution and the law as well as observe the duty to honour each other’s culture and religious belief.