Special Report by ICC
1/12/2013 Washington D.C. (International Christian Concern) – Expectations were high when Nepal was declared a secular state in May 2006, after more than two centuries of Hindu monarchy. However, in these six years of the nation’s transition to a democracy, the new leadership has been reluctant to give equal rights to the Christian minority.
There is no provision for churches to have a legal recognition in the country, and Christians do not even have a place for burial. Besides, the first national census held after Nepal became a democracy grossly underestimates the numerical strength of Christians. Furthermore, the country’s interim constitution – as well as a proposed new constitution – places a blanket ban on all missionary activities.
“Nepal was declared a secular state five years ago but we do not feel that we are living in a secular state,” local newspaper Republica recently quoted C.B. Gahatraj, General Secretary of the Federation of National Christians of Nepal, as saying. “For instance, we have no land to bury our dead.”
Last April, the government signed a six-point agreement with Christians, in response to their protests for equal rights, promising to allocate land for a cemetery in Lalitpur, on the outskirts of Nepal’s national capital Kathmandu, and provide for legal recognition of churches, among other things. “The agreement was supposed to be enforced immediately but nothing has been done till now,” Gahatraj said.
Adding insult to injury, authorities meanwhile allegedly manipulated the national census, marking as many as 2.2 million Christians as Hindus, World Evangelical Alliance reports.
While the 2011 Census, released last month, shows there are 375,699 Christians in Nepal, church leaders say their data can prove there are no less than 2.5 million people in their community.
“When preliminary results of the census were declared [in late September 2011], we were told that the number of Christians was 2 million, despite the fact that a large number of Christians were presumably marked as Hindus,” Dr. K.B. Rokaya, General Secretary of the National Council of Churches of Nepal, was quoted as saying.
Enumerators had marked even Rokaya, a well-known Christian leader and member of the government’s Human Rights Commission, and his family as Hindus before his wife told them to make the correction.
Given that demography matters in gaining attention of political parties and to have protections in a democracy, this could be seen as a deliberate attempt to hurt the minority.
Moreover, the country’s charter is biased against Christians.
Article 23 (1) of the 2007 Interim Constitution of Nepal, currently in force, provides for the right to “profess, practice and preserve” but only in relation to one’s “own religion as handed down to him or her from ancient times paying due regard to social and cultural traditions.” This excludes all converts. It adds, “Provided that no person shall be entitled to convert another person from one religion to another, and no person shall act or behave in a manner which may infringe upon the religion of others.”
To complete the nation’s transition to a democracy, Nepal is in the process of drafting a new charter. The Constituent Assembly, which was elected in 2008, drafted a proposed new constitution with many changes but retained the ban. It states that religious freedom does not include the right “to convert a person from one religion to another.”
The Assembly dissolved last year for failing to finalize the constitution, and a new House will be elected this year. While it is not clear if the same proposed constitution will be taken up for discussion, leaders of the three main political parties – the Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist), the left-of-center Nepali Congress (NC) and the Communist Party of Nepal–Unified Marxist Leninist (CPN-UML) – all agreed with the ban on evangelism.
Furthermore, while persecution by government officials has waned after the abolition of the Hindu monarchy, a threat of attacks from non-state actors still looms.
As part of a government initiative to encourage former guerrillas who fought during the nation’s decade-long civil war, authorities are contemplating giving immunity to armed groups. Sources told ICC that one of the groups that is being offered place in mainstream politics is the Hindu militant outfit Nepal Defence Army. Ram Prasad Mainali, former chief of the group, was arrested in 2009 for exploding a bomb in Our Lady of the Assumption church in Kathmandu, which killed a teenager and a newly married woman and injured more than a dozen others. Mainali is currently in jail, and has reportedly carried on with extortion and terror activities from behind bars.
Times may be difficult for Nepal’s Christians but they are known for their resilience.
“The Church in Nepal continues to grow despite persecution,” said William Stark, International Christian Concern’s Regional Manager for South Asia. “Much like the first church in the book of Acts, Nepali Christians have a spiritual commitment that should be a model for Christians around the world. Because of this commitment, the church in Nepal will continue to grow.”