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Stay order in Nepal against new priests

KATHMANDU: Nepal’s Supreme Court on Thursday issued a stay order to the Pashupati Area Development Trust not to allow the new priests, appointed by the Maoist-led government, perform rituals at the famous Pashupatinath temple.

A writ petition was filed on Sunday demanding that the new priests be barred from the rituals after the government accepted the resignations of three Indian priests and appointed two locals.

The decision was assailed by local priests as well as former members of the trust. The situation was chaotic on Thursday, when the new priests were formally allowed into the temple.

For the first time regular ritual prayers could not be conducted.

The agitated protesters dubbed the decision to hire new priests as “politicisation of religion.” They said the government did not follow procedures to appoint the new ones.A religious seminar should have been conducted to select them, said a former trust member.

Nepal had a tradition of conducting the main ‘puja’ of the temple by South Indian priests.

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