For generations, the Pashupatinath priests have been brought from Karnataka; a religious tradition handed down form one generation to another. Changing this age-old custom requires time and not impulsive and crude actions, such as that unleashed upon the newly-appointed priests. Clearly, it is a politically-motivated move that has managed to offend the religious sentiments of many such as myself.
Let me throw some light to reminisce the violent undertakings of the ´young, confused and lost´ cadres that commenced from the days of the insurgency. Have they not tortured, mutilated and killed people? And were they not engaged in threatening, looting abducting and blockading? All these have left ugly scars, both physical and mental ones, on us civilians. And mind you, the mental scars are more sinister like the one I am feeling right now, which burns my soul and hurts my spirit. This is because the Pashupatinath temple that I hold sacred, a place that is a sacred plinth of all my religious sentiments, has been unrightfully trespassed and I can do nothing but sit back and hyperventilate and suffocate. That is how vulnerable the ´young, confused and lost´ have made me.
Is this what UCPN-Maoist Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal means by ‘civilian supremacy’? Making civilians weak, defenseless and completely exposed to the unjust ways of his cadres? Now I hear that he wants to arm every citizen with guns. Just the thought of it makes me panic. We have had enough violence already with the guns that his cadres are walking around with, forcefully imposing the false notion that terrorism is the only means.
The ´young, confused and lost´ ones are not your stereotypical terrorists for terrorists do not live with people. Terrorists make sudden appearances once in a while, as if from nowhere, create terror and then abscond. This is what makes our band of ´young, confused and lost´ more terrifying because they live amidst us. Even while living amongst us, they continue vandalizing the nation with their intimidating activities, to achieve political goals.
I sincerely find myself worrying for them, their future and their mental scars. Are they not merely bewildered youth guided by yet another bewildered leader? What will they do when they actually wake up and realize that in a true democracy justice prevails? For justice to prevail, sabotaging, bullying, extorting and thrashing people for mere traffic and parking issues are not democratic practices but hindrances to the process of a stable democracy where a government is made of the people, for the people and by the people, and not terrorized and civilian rights tampered and sabotaged by a bunch of hooligans, idle in mind and vocation.
(contact.sheebazbook@yahoo.com)
(Writer is the author of Beyond the Illusions)
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