Kathmandu: The local administration in Nepal’s Parsa district on Monday imposed a curfew in parts of Birgunj city, which borders Raxaul in India, to prevent possible religious strife following the vandalism of a mosque in southern Dhanusha district on Saturday.
After a video showing the vandalism of the mosque circulated on social media, members of Nepal’s Muslim community staged protests in Birgunj on Sunday, chanting slogans and burning tyres on the streets. Protests also erupted in other parts of Madhesh Province, including Kamala Municipality in Dhanusha district.
According to the police, the incident began with a TikTok video in which two Muslim youths were seen making offensive remarks about Hindus. Subsequently, a group of Hindu individuals vandalised and set fire to the mosque in Dhanusha.
With protests by the Muslim community intensifying from Sunday, the District Administration Office, Parsa, on Monday imposed a prohibitory order banning any kind of fair, public meeting, procession, or protest in certain areas of Birgunj city, effective from 1 pm on Monday until further notice.
According to the order, such activities have been banned within the periphery stretching from the bus park in the east, Sirsiya Bridge in the west, Power House Chowk in the north, and Shankaracharya Gate in the south of the city.
“Anyone found violating this order will be taken into control and proceeded against in accordance with the law,” the order states.
In recent days, videos circulating on social media showed an unidentified group vandalising a mosque located in a Muslim neighbourhood in Sakhuwa Maran, Dhanukamala Municipality–6, Dhanusha district, and burning a copy of the Quran.
“We have arrested two Muslim youths who made the TikTok video and one person involved in vandalising the mosque,” said Superintendent of Police Bishwo Raj Khadka, Chief of the District Police Office, Dhanusha, told IANS. “The Dhanusha District Court has remanded them to judicial custody for five days.”
He said police have received complaints against nine people allegedly involved in the vandalism of the mosque. “We are searching for those involved in the act,” he added.
(IANS)
