Mosque, Arab targets attacked in Nepal after 12 workers murdered in Iraq

AFP ^ | Sept. 1, 2004

[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.

[Cronos]

There is nothing awesome about this.... this is truly sad... these extremists are going to instigate a world wide war on Islam if they keep this up, and lots of innocent people will be slaughtered.

Err... hello! The Slamics have already declared war on us 'infidels' and they've been practising it since the 7th century. Former Christian lands like Syria, Egypt, parts of Iraq, Turkey, Bosnia, Albania, North Africa, former Hindu lands like Pakistan and other parts of the Indian continent, former Buddhist lands like Afghanistan, former Zoroastrian lands like Iran and parts of Central Asia have all been devastated and the 'infidels' destroyed. They've already declared war, we're just fighting back -- a reactive not a pro-active approach

[Cronos]

Aren't the British Gurkas Nepalness?

The Gurkhas work for both the Indian and British armies -- they're mercenaries

[Cronos]

Now, with that said, I DO NOT believe that all Muslims are evil people... no more than all Russian's were evil people or all people living in NAZI Germany were evil people.... THere is no debat though that Communism and Naziism are and were EVIL.

Mr. Hamilton Jay, you, I would wager, have never lived in a country with slamics. Your little comparison to Nutzis ans commies is wrong. Slamics are brainwashed with a religious fervor. I don't advocate killing them, I advocate a simple choice -- the same choice they offer us -- convert or die. They don't give us 'infidels' any other option and, if we wish to survive, we won't give THEM any other option

Slam does nto deserve to survive because it is a cankerous, cancerous distortion of lies, just like the Nutzis philosophy. Present day slamics should be converted.

these slammies are of Nepalese ethnicity and should be forced to convert.

[Cronos]

With another 9-11 type attack, I would expect to see a similar reaction in the US and likely calls for a wholesale roundup of Arab nationals for internment and deportaion.

And you would want to hold Arab Christians too? Syria IS 10% Christian, Lebanon is at least 40% Christian and Iraq and Egypt are about 2% christian. And, so, you would want to hold only Arabslamofascists? What about Paki, Nigerian, Indonesian, Bosnian, Chechnyan, Kosovan slamoterrorists? What about the Blue-eyed, blonde Bosnian terroristss?

[Cronos]

Islam will not survive an open war with the west, if the west is forced to a strictly all or nothing scenario, it will be cataclysmic

we HAVE been forced into that scenario. Where WERE you on 9/11/2001?

[Cronos]

Israeli terroristss? Are you one of those guys who believe that hte planes on 9/11 were actually flown by Mossad operatives just to make the slammies look bad?? Oh and I suppose the "Israeli" terrorists are the ones who carried out the '72 olympics massacre, are the ones kidnapping children in Russia, the ones sawing off men's heads inIraq, attacking Innocents in India and the Phillipines and East Timor and Nigeria and Sudan and the Moluccas and Afghanistan? </sarcasm

[Cronos]

Islam explicitly forbids conversion by force. Perhaps you should get your education about Islam from a Muslim source rather than from an anti-Muslim bigot.

Perhaps you ought to read some history -- what about the janissaries for one, what about the millions of Syrians, Egyptians, Arabs, Anatolians, Slavs, North Africans, Iranis, etc. forced to convert to Slamc?

What about the 100s of millions of Hindus slaughtered by slammmies over 10 cneturies? BAh, take your propaganda elsewhere, those lies don't stand up to the least scrutiny.

[Cronos]

Screw islam and all muslims. White, arab, black, Nepalese, whatever. Everywhere there is islam there is death, suffering, opression, and just plain evil.

Couldn't agree with you more mate, so many folks try to make this an ethnic thing, but it's NOT. I got no problem with Christian Arabs -- great guys (and gorgeous women like Shannon Elizabeth, Shakira, Yasmeen Bleethe!) or Zoroastrian Iranis or Christian Pakis.

[Cronos]

Take the mosques, shoot the clerics, and burn the mosques.

Fight fire with fire...

[Cronos]

Question. If you saw an employment ad that read: Workers wanted in Iraq. "Pay is $1 miilion a week. The odds of being killed in a gruesome fashion are 50-50." How many Freeper readers would apply?

IT;s not that simple -- you forgot to add: What if your family is starving, you are an unskilled worker and you have no idea about hte world beyond your village and have never heard of any war in Irq?

[Cronos]

BEautiful list of the Religion of Psss's teachings

[flaglady47]

I haven't learned how to post yet, but the Russians have stormed the school, or something like that, as there is now heavy gunfire going 2 ways, plus loud explosions from inside the school, bad outcome here, I'll bet. All out assault. If someone knows how to post, do it now! It's on FOX now!

[endthematrix]

No. And I think that they do contract work for the US. I've seen them with the British invasion into Iraq. I want to say they also work (or have in the Gulf War) with the Aussies.

[Cronos]

It ain't SECTARIAN violence -- Sectarian violence is when Sunnis slaughter shias and vice-versa and when both of them attack Ahmadiyas.

[Cronos]

They are just living in their own country

ah, but that is not their country -- it is Dar-Al-Haram as it is not ruled by Slammie mooollahs.

[Cronos]

When I saw these Freepers advocating violence, pogroms, and mob terrorism against Muslims, as in Nepal today, I thought, as an American, that I should point out how bigoted and wrong it is to persecute people based on their religion.

Simple analogy -- the Borg. As long as the Borg in the Star Trek Universe only live by the philosophy of resistance is futile, you will be assimilated, no other race could live with them

Similarly, as long as the slammies pursue that philosophy, we can't let the cult survive. The Star TRekkers could allow individual Borg to live when they were separated from the Hive (7 of 9). Similarly, I got no problem with ex-Mooslimbs, they would be good people once they've been freed from the cult


I won't stop my condemnation ofIslam until

1. Saudi A allows Christians to worship freely in Saudi A -- ditto for other moslime countries
2. Saudi A builds a church IN Makkah and one IN Madinah.
3. Saudi A, Egypt, Pakiland, etc. repeal the law that advocates execution for those that convert fromIslam
4. Mooslimes in the US, UK, France etc. stop asking for jihads against the countries they are citizens of

[Cronos]

If the Gurkas were so tough, it would be Kurkastan not Nepal

They would be too poor to survive. Nepal is a mix of ethnicities. A break up would be ruinous, even more than what is going on.

[sheik yerbouty]

And the Kaaba in Mecca looks just like a Borg cube.

[Cronos]

Well, the spanish were the only western europeans to kick out the slammies

[Cronos]

Actually Mooslimes do nearly ALL of the killing of innocents.