Friday 16 November 2012

Genocide of Tamang ethnicty in Nepal

During the ruling period of King Ran Bahadur Shah and his third queen, Kantavati from Brahmin family of Terai region's son Girban Yuddha Bir bikram Shah indigenous tribe, Tamang community's men fought against their autocratic and discriminatory ruling system. But they lost the battle because King was supported by the East India Company of British rulers. Therefore, Tamang community men were not allowed to use weapons, joined in the military and allowed to study. They were forced to work only as a Pipa (porter in Goswara postal office in Singha Durbar in Kathmandu), Dhoke (watchmen in the royal palace) and their daughters were forcefully enslaved as a sex trader and sold to India to give sexual pleasure to British troops of East India Company. These historical facts have been evidenced by historical documents of Nepal. It was deliberately by the past rulers, especially Shah and Rana Regime rulers committed Genocide to Tamang community. This is the reason why even now Tamang has been categorised as a Marginalised ethnicity in the list of the Government of Nepal categorisation of different ethnic groups. 

Tamangs are predominately found in the surrounding districts of Kathmandu valley, namely Sindhupalchowk, Rasuwa, Kathmandu, Bhaktapur, Lalitpur, Dhading, Makwanpur, Nuwakot, Ramechhap, Dolakha, Chitwan and Kavreplanchowk and constitute 5.6% of Nepal's population as per the Census 2001, which places their population at 1,280,000, slightly higher than the Newars they are one of the most deprived community in terms of socio-economically. In addition, girls trafficking, men working as porters in Kathmandu valley,  criminal acts such as robbery, thieving, stealing, etc committed by Tamang men can be found more compared to other community or ethnic groups.


Evidence suggests that only from 21 August 1932 AD Tamang ethnic member people have been permitted to write their surname "Tamang" by the rulers of Nepal. Till then they were called “Lama Bhotey”, "Murmi" or some other nomenclature in Nepal and prohibited from using the term “Tamang”. The Nepal Government recognized the community as “Tamang” on the request of Sardar Bahadur, Jangba Bir Tamang, OBE, DMM, MC, [Officer of the British Empire, Distinguished Military Medal, Military Cross] who led a delegation to Shri 3 Sarkar, Bhim Shamsher Janga Bahadur Rana and Commander-in-Chief, Yuddha Samsher Janga Bahadur Rana. [Jhyojhyo, Edited by K M Tamang, Vol 2, No 2 2839 Ta lho (2003 AD) Page 17]


Moreover, “But during the 104 years of Rana Autocracy, all citizens were barred from studies in Nepal, except the Bahun-Chettri and Newars. Bahun-Chettri and Newars got this opportunity because they helped Junga Bahadur Rana commit murder of hundreds of patriotic high officials from all communities in Kot and Bhandarkhal Parva and the same Bahuns helped the Rana rulers make majority Nepalese as Dalits and brought the Indo-Mongoloid group into caste-system with the introduction of Muluki Ain. The opportunity these people got during the 104 years of Dark Age in Nepal gave them firm base in education and government jobs for ever. This is how they have been controlling Nepal ever since”.[Net].
Reading the UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide Adopted by Resolution 260 (III) A of the United Nations General Assembly on 9 December 1948 Article 2 it seems that in Nepal there is a mass GENOCIDE of girls/women and deprived communities like dalit and else since we've huge problems (female infecticide through sex-selective abortion; mental and physical torture to women/girls due to Dowry, Domestic Violence, Chaupaddhi, Jhuma partha, Baddhi and Kamalari partha, Girls Trafficking; Gender and Caste based discrimination and imposing unitary system i.e. one language, one religion, one culture, etc to all) of below mentioned issues in Nepal. Therefore, all those who are involving in committing Genocide of certain group MUST be PUNISHED by LAW. 

Article 2:

In the present Convention, genocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such:
(a) Killing members of the group;
(b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;
(c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;
(d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;
(e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.

Article 3:


The following acts shall be punishable:

(a) Genocide;
(b) Conspiracy to commit genocide;
(c) Direct and public incitement to commit genocide;
(d) Attempt to commit genocide;
(e) Complicity in genocide.

References

1. Tamang, A glimpse of historical past by Saroj Tamang, May 2012 accessed from
http://www.ksnonline.org/forum/topics/tamang-a-glimpse-of-historical-past-1
2. The UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide Adopted by Resolution 260 (III) A of the United Nations General Assembly on 9 December 1948  accessed from  http://www.hrweb.org/legal/genocide.html

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