Posted on 09/01/2004 7:48:14 AM PDT by Alouette
KATHMANDU (AFP) - Thousands of people rampaged through Kathmandu, setting fire to a mosque and Arab targets and ransacking employment agencies after 12 Nepalese hostages were murdered in Iraq.
Two men were shot and slightly wounded by security guards when they tried to storm the Egyptian embassy, which represents Iraqi interests in the Himalayan kingdom, police and a doctor said.
The streets returned to normal after the government clamped an indefinite curfew and declared a national day of mourning Thursday for the victims of the worst hostage massacre in Iraq since the US-led invasion.
Demonstrators, some chanting "Punish the Muslims!", swept through Kathmandu early Wednesday, throwing stones and ransacking any targets with Arabic-language script.
Protesters climbed on top of and set fire to the Jama Masjid mosque, the largest shrine of the city's small Muslim minority, after pulling out its furniture and electrical equipment for a sidewalk bonfire.
Riot police used batons to push the crowd of some 5,000 people out of a sensitive central area which includes King Gyanendra's Narayanhity Palace, a police officer said.
The mosque suffered only minor damage but many of its contents were destroyed.
The protests erupted late Tuesday after news that the 12, who left the impoverished nation in search of jobs, were murdered by militants who abducted them about 10 days ago.
The kidnappers accused them of cooperating with US forces.
A mob made up mainly of youths broke windows of more than a dozen employment agencies blamed for sending Nepalese to Iraq and set fire to their vehicles, furniture and computers, police said.
An employee at Qatar Airways, one of the main airlines used by Nepalese seeking jobs in the Middle East, said dozens of angry people stormed into their premises and smashed furniture before setting the building on fire.
The employee estimated damage in the tens of thousands of dollars.
Many protesters also demanded the resignation of Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba, saying he should take responsibility for the failure to free the hostages.
The government had repeatedly stressed that Nepal, which is fighting a bloody Maoist rebellion, was not part of the US-led coalition in Iraq.
Deuba appealed for calm in an address to the nation Wednesday.
"The terrorists who committed this gruesome act don't have any religion or principles. I call upon all citizens of Nepal to have patience," he said.
"We made honest efforts to save them but the militants never spelt out their conditions," Deuba said. "We are now trying our best to bring back the bodies of the victims."
His government announced compensation of one million rupees (14,400 dollars) for the families of each of the 12 slain hostages, a major sum in the one of the world's poorest countries.
The Himalayan capital's skies were patrolled by army helicopters, which were last called out last week when Maoist rebels fighting to overthrow the monarchy ordered a halt to traffic to and from the city of 1.5 million people.
Hindus make up more than 86 percent of the population in Nepal, the world's only officially Hindu state. But the kingdom has experienced little of the inter-religious violence that has scarred neighbouring India.
Muslims account for 3.8 percent of the 27 million population. Some 7.8 percent adhere to Buddhism in Nepal, which is the birthplace of the Buddha, with smaller religions comprising 2.2 percent.
Spontaneous protest strikes were called in the towns of Pokhara, Gorkha and Biratnagar with youths taking to the streets to stop vehicles.
A statement announcing the killings was posted on an Islamist website by an Al-Qaeda-linked group called the Army of Ansar al-Sunna.
It was accompanied by pictures of the grisly beheading of a blindfolded hostage, including one where his bloodied head was held up like a trophy by a hooded captor. A video showed the other Nepalese being shot.
I'm glad to hear they are. Not sure where I heard that story, but I have been under the impression that the Gurka's were disbanded.
Lexi?
"Doesn't make it right but the Nepali Muslims are not responsible for what Iraqi terrorists did in the name of Islam. "
You misunderstand my point. I never said it was right to harm innocent people, but you implied that if the Nepali Muslims HAD been responsible for what the Iraqi terrorists did in the name of Islam, then their treatment would have been fair.
I was simply pointing out that the mistreatment of the INNOCENT Nepali Muslims by the Nepali rioters was no worse than the treatment of the INNOCENT Nepali workers by the Iraqi terrorists. Life isn't fair, and it is going to be increasingly UNFAIR to Muslims as long as some of them insist on killing non Muslims. Wouldn't want to be Muslim during the next few years.
Cute, but I think most of us know what you meant.
If the Gurkas were so tough, it would be Kurkastan not Nepal
BUMP
Nice talking to ya.
"... Homophobe, capitalist, imperialist war-mongering..."
BINGO! Libs always resort name calling when truth is against them.
Thanks for taking the mask off, thin as it was, DUmmy.
Nobody said anything about loving slavery so that must be your bag, huh?
I don't have any argument with that.
“We are grief-stricken at these horrifying events,” they wrote; “the murder of innocents can never be justified and must not be tolerated.”
In a lengthy statement, professors from major colleges and universities throughout the country expressed their compassion for grieving family members while also decrying the increase in violence against American Muslims this past week. “Anger and frustration are completely understandable and shared by us all,” they wrote “yet that anger must not be directed at individuals utterly innocent of these terrible crimes.”
In recent days, verbal and physical attacks against Muslims (and people who were thought to be Muslims) have been reported from California to Vermont. Muslims have been warned to stay home or to avoid wearing traditional dress. “Particularly distressing is the fact that many American Muslims have fled to the United States, seeking a haven from intolerant regimes in Kosovo, Afghanistan or Iraq. For them now to face intolerance and violence here is an abuse of our Nation’s most deeply cherished beliefs” they said.
See, this is the problem people have. As is easily discerned, the one sentence expressing sympathy for the victims of 9/11 is immediately followed by several sentences that warn against the "increase in violence" against Muslims in America that was both: (1) wildly exaggerated; and (2) to the extent it existed, orders of magnitude less extreme in intent and result than the 9/11 attacks.
This pattern of decrying the obviously terrorist acts committed by Muslims and in the same breath exaggerating slights, insults, and violence against Muslims makes it impossible not to infer that the anti-terrorist statment is deployed begrudgingly -- as little more than a PR necessity -- and that the real intent of the speaker is to again whine about injustice toward Muslims. More disheartening is that many of these intellectuals were Americans and seemed, by their "yes, but" rhetoric, to identify more with Muslims in other, non-democratic nations than with their fellow Americans, even as those Americans' hearts were still broken by the barbarities of September 11, 2001. That there are thousands upon thousands of Muslims in the United States and Western Europe who share the same hyperidentification with fellow Muslims, whether of their country or not, whether terrorist or not, simply cannot be denied.
So to prove your point, please find a criticism by respected Muslims of Muslim terrorism that does not, within 100 words, dilute the criticism by citing acts, real or imagined, against Muslims. I've looked. They're few and far between if they exist at all.
Most Muslims, however, just want to be left alone, and they're not really interested in fighting a world war.
I'll believe that when I hear the Muslims from all the free countries denouncing terrorist acts.I haven't heard them yet.People better pull their heads out and start getting serious or you are not going to have heads to pull out.This is not some overseas problem that we can all sit around and speculate what might be or could be.They have already shown me what they are and I believe them.
I only quoted the koran as you did, and took nothing out of context. If you believe I have then please explain it to me.
What you may not know is that the 'prophet' mohammed taught two contrary teachings at Mecca and Medina. At one he taught tolerance of the "infidel". At the other he taught that the 'infidel' should be converted or killed. In any case, the Muslims of the earth have perpetually been about the business of murdering Christians, Jews, Buddhist and Hindus. Theirs is a long history of barbarism, beheadings, conquest, murders, warfare and bloodshed.
I guess you can find what you want when you take segments out of context in the Quran - or the Bible. I found this:
[Quran 2:256] "There shall be no compulsion in religion...".
[Quran 60:8]"GOD does not enjoin you from befriending those who do not fight you because of religion, and do not evict you from your homes. You may befriend them and be equitable towards them. GOD loves the equitable."
[Quran 8:61]"If they resort to peace, so shall you, and put your trust in GOD. He is the Hearer, the Omniscient."
[Quran 4:90]"...... Therefore, if they leave you alone, refrain from fighting you, and offer you peace, then GOD gives you no excuse to fight them."
___________________________________________________________
But even today Muslims make war on the infidels (non-muslims):
The Muslims Palestinians have a continuous war of terrorism against Israel.
In Sudan, Africa, the Muslim government of the north have already killed over one million Christians in the south.
Algeria is wracked by bitter fighting between Islamic Fundamentalists and the military.
Nigeria is in the midst of a civil war between moslem's and Christians.
In Kenya the Islamic Party has declared Holy War on the government.
Colonel Khaddafy and his Libyan army have carried out numerous military excursions into neighboring Chad, and, like Afghanistan and Iran, is the basis for terrorism plots.
In Turkey the secular Muslim government is being challenged by militant Refah Islamic Party.
A war also rages between Christian Ethiopia and Muslim Eritrea.
The fight between Christian Armenians and Muslim Azerbaijans ( 35,000 casualties), after which tiny Armenia was shrunk further because of territory "gained" by the "breeding-with-a-vengeance" Muslims population.
A war between the Christian Serbs and the Muslim Albanians could spark at any moment.
Muslims in Chechnya, Daghestan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan have ignited insurrection against the pro-Russian regimes. Chech Muslims hold a school full of Russian children as hostages as we speak.
Two articles in the L.A. Times wrote about Muslims in Indonesia forcing Christians of all denominations to convert to Islam or get their throats slit. Thousands upon thousands of Christians have been first converted, and then sexually mutilated with kitchen knives and razor blades to make them conform to Muslim standards. Afterwards, they are enslaved to their local Muslim chieftain. This was not some aberration of Islam, but rather business as usual for all but the moderate factions. They have a history of murder, terror, lies and brainwashing to advance their cause of global conversion and subjugation... Their Jihad!
Any religion that rewards the suicidal killing of innocents (infidels) with 72 virgins is an abomination.
But you are free to say whatever you want here. Try that in one of your beloved muslim countries.
You, little man, are a liar and a fraud. And the only reason that you have the freedom to spew your stupidity is because there are better men than yourself from the Christian west protecting your right to do so, with their lives.
Don't let the door hit you in the ass on the way out.
I seldom visit bigoted hate sites, because I can't read Arabic and it's too much trouble translating them with Ajeeb.
Ask him about Taquiya, or how it is fine for a muslim to lie to an infidel...
This is what he does!
Payback's a b*tch! To bad the world at large couldn't say "Punish the islamofascists!"
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