NEW THREATS, OLD ENMITY PUMMEL CHRISTIANS

NEPAL

September 16 MPBS24/7 REPORT From CDN – An underground group in Nepal that speaks with bombs and has coerced hundreds of government officials into quitting their jobs is threatening Christian clergy with violence if they do not give in to extortion demands. The Nepal Christian Society (NCS), an umbrella group of denominations, churches and organizations, met in the Kathmandu Valley yesterday (Sept. 15) to discuss the dangers amid reports of pastors receiving phone calls and letters from the Unified National Liberation Front (Samyukta Jatiya Mukti Morcha), an armed group demanding money and making threats. The group has threatened Christian leaders in eastern and western Nepal, as well as in the Kathmandu Valley. “The pastors who received the extortion calls do not want to go public for fear of retaliation,” said Lok Mani Dhakal, general secretary of the NCS. Nearly 1,500 government officials from 27 districts have resigned after receiving threats from the Front. Besides facing threats from a new group, Christians have also been subject to persecution due to longstanding animosity that began when Nepal was a Hindu state; the anti-Christian sentiment refuses to die four years after Parliament declared the nation secular. Ishwor Pudasaini, pastor of Assembly of God Church, said that his neighbors revile him and make threatening gestures. His family is not allowed to enter any public place, and he is afraid to spend nights in his old home for fear of being attacked. A relative, Bharat Pudasaini, lost his job and was forced to migrate to a different district. “Bharat Pudasaini was a worker at Mulpani Primary School,” said Pudasaini. “The school sacked him for embracing Christianity, and the villagers forced his family to leave the village.”