NP - Animal sacrifice continues unabated

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*Animal sacrifice continues unabated *

 

http://myrepublica.com/portal/index.php?action=news_details & news_id=16597

 

 

AKANSHYA SHAH

 

 

 

KATHMANDU, March 24: Despite repeated appeals from animal rights activists,

the government and Nepal Army (NA) once again resorted to massive animal

sacrifice on the occasion of Chaite Dashain on Tuesday.

 

 

 

While from the government side, 54 buffaloes and another 54 goats were

sacrificed at the main courtyard of Hanuman Dhoka, NA killed two buffaloes

and three goats at Nishan Than. In addition, one buffalo and two goats were

offered to Goddess Durga at Trishul Chowk in front of Taleju temple. At Bayu

Chowk another buffalo was sacrificed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“The sacrifice was done from the budgetary allocation from the fund

sanctioned from the Ministry of Finance,” Narayan Bohara of the Department

of Archeology told myrepublica.com.

 

 

 

NA during Chaite and Bada Dashain sacrifices water buffaloes and goats at

the guard houses at Hanuman Dhoka and Bhaktapur Durbar Square. The rites

last for about two hours and are concluded after the military commander

smears each of the banners with the sacrificial blood. The rituals leave the

courtyards awash with animal blood.

 

 

 

Just few days back, the Animal Welfare Network Nepal (AWNN) wrote a letter

to Chief of Army Staff Chhatra Mansingh Gurung urging him to cancel public

animal sacrifices conducted during such festivals. The letter said,

“decapitating a bleating buffalo or goat should not be the symbol of Nepali

civilization.”

 

 

 

The letter also said that time has come to abolish animal sacrifices

conducted by the NA. “Blood sacrifices promote superstition and violence,

drain the poor and prevent Nepal from becoming a truly advanced country,”

the letter said.

 

 

 

Conducting rituals that are controversial and hurt the sentiments of

communities and soldiers opposing them, must be abandoned in the new Nepal,

the letter concluded.

 

 

 

“It may be a part of our tradition that the khukuri wielded in the

battlefields first had to draw the blood of sacrificial animals. However,

our enemies today are not demons. It is superstition, fatalism, poverty and

social inequity that plagues our society,” Pramoda Shah, president of AWNN,

said.

 

 

 

The argument that animal sacrifices are part of army culture and tradition

is not a valid argument to continue such practices, according to AWNN

members.

 

 

 

“Nepal, realizing the adverse effects, has abolished a number of

´traditions´ in the past, including human sacrifice and widow burning,” Shah

added.

 

 

 

The network has advised NA to show that it is “indeed is a progressive and

inclusive force in society” by sacrificing fruits and vegetables instead of

animals.

 

 

 

“There are alternatives like offering coconut and gourd. Hindu religion does

not specifically suggest animal sacrifice to please God,” Shah said.

 

 

 

Last year, AWNN launched a five-year campaign against animal sacrifice and

cruel blood sports.

 

 

 

Asked to comment, NA Spokesperson Brigadier General Ramindra Chhetri said,

“We conducted regular nishan puja at Hanuman Dhoka as per the traditional

custom of Hindu religion.”

 

 

 

akanshya

 

 

 

--

Lucia de Vries

Freelance Journalist

Nepal - Netherlands