Citing religious sensitivities, the Nepalese government has banned annual Islamic jalsa ijtima of Muslims on the Indo-Nepal border. Here there were reports on Islam. Many banned Muslim religious leaders were also invited in Kaha Ja Raha Hai. The Ministry of Home Affairs of Nepal has now banned the tents put up for this event and asked the people who came for it to vacate their premises within 24 hours.
In fact, preparations for Ijtima were going on in full swing in the Sunsari district of Koshi, Nepal, adjacent to the Jogbani border. This area of Nepal is adjacent to Jogbani city in Araria district of Bihar state of India.
Tents were pitched in 80 acres for Ijtima from 21st to 23rd November in Duhbi and Ithari of this district. Full arrangements were also made for the stay of about 50 thousand people who came in it.
For this, invitations were sent to Muslims from many countries around the world. Sunsari district is a religiously sensitive area. There was an apprehension that this large organization of Muslims would incite religious sentiments in the Hindu majority country of Nepal.
It is worth noting that in the beginning of last month of October, a huge communal violence broke out in Nepalganj of Banke district of this neighboring country of India. Then here the Muslim mob not only took a Facebook post and raised slogans of ‘Sar Tan Se Juda’ and ‘Labbaik-Labbaik’, took out a procession but also threw stones at the Hindu rally.
In order to avoid this, Nepal has adopted an attitude of good security by accident. Due to this, this event passing the border of India has been banned from the security point of view. In this case, the Sunsari district administration had come to know that Maulana, Ulema and Maulvi, supporters of banned fanatical Muslims from many countries including India, were going to participate in the Ijtima.
It was also feared that Nepal’s relations with its neighboring country, India, would deteriorate due to its organization. The Sunsari district administration had sought advice from the Nepal government regarding this annual religious event of Muslims. Sunsari Key Chief District Magistrate Humkala Pandey wrote a letter to the Ministry of Home Affairs regarding ‘Ijtima’.
Considering the seriousness of the matter, the Ministry of Home Affairs issued a directive to stop this program at any cost. District Magistrate Pandey said that after the instructions of the Ministry of Home Affairs, written instructions have been issued to the organizers to stop the event.
Nepal took this decision after holding a meeting with the officials of Sunsari district along with the intelligence department here and several political parties. In view of this, the Chief District Magistrate of Sunsari along with the security officers of the district went to inspect the venue.
During this time, he also directed the people who came there from outside to leave the district within 24 hours along with the immediate removal of the tents erected for Ijtima.
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