Nepal beefs up security over Hindu protest fears

Kathmandu, Feb 16: Thousands of policemen were deployed at a pilgrimage site in Nepal's capital today over fears that religious groups could use a festival to demand the country revert to being a Hindu state, officials said.

The Himalayan nation was the world's only Hindu state until it was declared a secular country last year after weeks of mass protests forced its Hindu monarch, King Gyanendra, to end his absolute rule.

Organisers of the Hindu festival of ''Mahashivratri'', celebrated today, said about 300,000 pilgrims from Nepal and neighbouring India were expected at Kathmandu's Pashupatinath Temple of Lord Shiva, one of the trinity of Hindu gods.

Hundreds of ''sadhus'', or Hindu holy men, were also expected for the annual ''grand night'' festival of Lord Shiva, worshipped as the god of destruction.

Local media reports said some religious groups were planning protests on the occasion to demand Nepal -- about 80 percent of whose 26 million people are Hindus -- return to being a Hindu state.

''Some people could create trouble. The government is fully prepared to stop anyone who tries to indulge in violence,'' Baman Prasad Neupane, a senior home ministry official, told Reuters.

About 2,000 policemen would be on guard and more forces were on standby for deployment in the event of trouble at one of Hinduism's holiest sites, police said.

The Pashupati Area Development Trust, a religious body that organises the festival, urged pilgrims to refrain from politics inside the temple.

''All activities other than religious, cultural and traditional have been banned from the temple premises,'' it said in a statement.

REUTERS