Katmandu erupts in violence after murder of 12 hostages in Iraq

Scotsman.com News ^ | 9/2/04 | THOMAS BELL

[TexKat]

VIOLENCE erupted across the Nepalese capital Katmandu yesterday in response to the killing on Tuesday of 12 Nepalese workers who had been kidnapped in Iraq.

Angry mobs attacked Muslims and overseas recruitment agencies, blaming them for the murders. Shots were fired by guards at the Egyptian embassy when a mob attacked the building. Mosques were also targeted.

One Kashmiri shopkeeper was reported to have been killed and another man was said to have fallen to his death from the roof of a building he was attacking.

Police lobbed tear-gas shells to break up more than 1,000 demonstrators who burned tyres at an intersection 200 metres from the Jame Masjid mosque in the city centre.

The violence came after an Islamic militant group released video footage which it claimed showed the execution of the 12 workers. One was apparently decapitated while the others were shot in the head.

Throughout Katmandu, shops were closed and the roads cleared of traffic, but the streets remained crowded with vandals and onlookers.

Authorities imposed a 2pm curfew and the prime minister, Sher Bahadur Deuba, addressed the nation on state radio to appeal for calm. Today has been declared a day of national mourning for the 12 workers.

United States Secretary of State Colin Powell called Mr Deuba to express his condolences over the deaths. The families of the victims have been offered £7,500 in compensation by the Nepalese government.

The city’s numerous overseas recruitment agencies - known as manpower agencies - were attacked following allegations that the young men were coerced into going to Iraq.

In videos made by their captors the 12 men said that Moonlight Consultants, a manpower agency, had told them they were being sent to Jordan. When they reached there they were forced to enter Iraq. But anger was not only directed at Moonlight.

"All manpower [agencies] are thieves. They have trafficked human beings, they are butchers," shouted one member of the crowd to general applause. The staff of Moonlight’s office were nowhere to be seen.

Several people expressed anger at the government’s failure to secure the hostages’ release. Government members had appeared on al-Jazeera television to appeal for the hostages’ release and unsuccessfully tried to open negotiations with their captors.

Impoverished Hindu Nepal does not allow its nationals to travel or work in Iraq because of security concerns but many go to the country from other nations in the Middle East.

In Iraq, meanwhile, a militant group calling itself the Holders of the Black Banners yesterday released seven foreign truck drivers from India, Kenya and Egypt they had held hostage for six weeks. However, the French hostage crisis persisted, with Arab leaders and Muslims worldwide trying to help save journalists Christian Chesnot and Georges Malbrunot, who disappeared on 19 August.

A group calling itself the Islamic Army of Iraq claims to hold them, demanding France abolish its ban on Muslim headscarves in schools. France has refused to meet the demand.

[TexKat]

Soldiers patrol near buildings that were burnt down during riots in Katmandu, Nepal, Thursday, Sept. 2, 2004. An uneasy calm returned to the capital Thursday, a day after riots over the slaying of 12 Nepalese hostages by Iraqi militants left two protestors dead and dozens injured. (AP Photo/Binod Joshi)

People gather around an area burnt by rioters in Wednesday's violence in Katmandu, Nepal, Thursday, Sept. 2, 2004. Hundreds of soldiers and police patrolled the capital Thursday, a day after riots over the slaying of 12 Nepalese hostages by Iraqi militants left two protestors dead and dozens injured. (AP Photo/Binod Joshi)

[PsyOp]

As ugly and violent as this was, if more people around the world had this reaction to islamic terrorism, the terrorism would stop. If everytime a muslim terrorist killed someone, a muslim community was razed, they'd quickly realize they can't win through terrorism. This is the only kind of response terrorists understand, and it is the only thing that will get other muslims to stop their tacit support for the terrorists among them.

“Conservatism, we are told, is out-of-date. The charge is preposterous and we ought boldly to say so. The laws of God, and of nature, have no dateline. The principles on which the Conservative political position is based have been established by a process that has nothing to do with the social, economic and political landscape that changes from decade to decade and from century to century. These principles are derived from the nature of man, and from the truths that God has revealed about His creation. Circumstances do change. So do the problems that are shaped by circumstances. But the principles that govern the solution of the problems do not. To suggest that the Conservative philosophy is out of date is akin to saying that the Golden Rule, or the Ten Commandments or Aristotle's Politics are out of date. The Conservative approach is nothing more or less than an attempt to apply the wisdom and experience and the revealed truths of the past to the problems of today.” – Barry Goldwater, The Conscience Of A Conservative, 1960.

Barry Goldwater, The Conscience Of A Conservative.

[Mark in the Old South]

Note to Islamofacism:

Not everyone in the world is Christian and not everyone will respond to your ritualistic human sacrifices in a Christian manner.

[WideGlide]

certainly was an attention getter....

[PsyOp]

What happened to the Muslim community in Kathmandu WAS terrorism.

Actually, it was retaliation against a community that has supported terrorism. But even if you choose to classify it as terrorism, it in no way changes the truth of my previous statement. Facts are facts, even when they are unpleasant.

[Arpege92]

Well said!

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

'Bout time somebody got righteously p!$$ed off at these Islamonazis. I hope they send the Ghurkas after them.

[PsyOp]

certainly was an attention getter....

Yes it was. I doubt any more Nepalese will be killed by terrorists in Iraq. Notice that the country's that have appeased the terrorists have only begat more terrorism. The day a terrorist begins to think that his actions might result in fatal retaliation against his own family is the day he thinks twice about being a terrorist. Up till now they have not had to worry about that.

[sheik yerbouty]

Payback's a bitch..

[swarthyguy]

AAYO GURKHALI!

[7.62 x 51mm]

I'm a Christian, and would kill Islamofascists at the drop of a pin. No qualms, no reservations.

[jolie560]

For Muslims, the chickens are coming home to roost.

Islam has had its fun funding killings and beheadings.

Payback is comin' up.

[headsonpikes]

In WWII, residents of Dresden were targeted only because of their nationality.

What's your poiont?

[Leatherneck_MT]

What happened to the Muslim community in Kathmandu WAS terrorism.

The laws of science says that nothing happens in vacuum.

Every action has an equal and opposite Re-action.

Whether these people in Kat were innocent or not, the reaction was towards their religion and their tolerance OF the original action.

I'll continue to believe that Mohammedens world wide, support this kind of terrorism up until I see Mosques dragging wanted Terrorists by the scruff of their neck to the police in every corner of the world.

Until then, they are complicit in the murder of countless thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of innocent people.

[Leatherneck_MT]

Nepal's Muslim community never supported terrorism. They were victims of sectarian violence. You are confusing your own biases and religious hatred for reality.

Do you have proof of your assertion?

[Ciexyz]

I agree with the principles expressed in Post #2. It is difficult to put such principles in writing, because we are conditioned by our culture to "be civilized". However, we're dealing with an Islamofascist enemy that realizes we are hindered by our civilized conditioning and they respond accordingly.

[Mark in the Old South]

I trust in God. That is not the mean I do not support military action nor the police doing their jobs. But I do thinks something much larger is at work here.

The Old Testament prophets speak of the complete destruction of many nations. They are Egypt, Arabia, Nubia (Sudan) Syria, Assyria (part of Iraq) Chaldea (also Iraq) Askalon (Gaza), Moab (Jordan) Lebanon, Persia (Iran) and several others. Do you see a pattern here? I sure do.

In addition the apparition of the Blessed Virgin Mary at Fatima in 1917 predicted many nations will cease to exist. No specific countries are named but Russia will be the instrument of a great Chastisement for man's sins (ie abortion). I believe these prophecies are linked and when one considers what is happening in Russia as we write, well what can I say. It is coming and it is close.

All my life I have heard people say they thought they would see (sometime in the future) the End Times. Lately I am hearing people say we are living the End Times, big difference.