Nepalis in North America Condemn Iraqi Militant Executions

The Nepalese Americas Council (NAC) strongly condemns the barbaric actions of the Iraqi militants who killed 12 innocent Nepali workers and then, even more appallingly, publicized the killings on a website.

We join with all the civilized people in the world in offering our profound condolences to the family members of the slain workers and praying for the souls of the departed.

The NAC maintains that there is nothing in the teachings of any world religion that condones cold-blooded murder. Some of the purported statements of the militants, which invoked the name of Buddha and sought to incite religious hostilities, only demonstrate their irresponsible, ignorant and misguided ways. The brutal killing of poor Nepali workers caught up in the hostilities without any demands or deadlines suggests that the killers are capricious, criminal bullies regardless of their lofty religious sounding statements. The international community and government of Iraq should find the savage killers and punish them.

The NAC recommends that Nepali workers be dissuaded from working in Iraq since there is no reasonable mechanism in place to provide them personal security.

It calls upon the government of Nepal to institute measures to prohibit Nepali workers from being sent to these areas of conflict without adequate safeguards, information, and insurance already in place for them. Immediate steps should also be instituted to ensure that sufficient compensation is paid to the families of the victims and to engage in diplomatic and regulatory efforts to prevent any such occurrence in the future. We also call upon the Nepali government and the Nepali diplomatic entities working in the area to arrange for the immediate transportation of the deceased bodies for a proper cremation in Nepal.

The NAC also calls upon its member organizations and individuals to lodge their own protests by urging their governments and representatives to condemn the militants. While world condemnation might appear to mean little to the anarchic savages that perpetrated this atrocity, it might help save lives in the future if there is any humanity left in these fanatics at all.

The NAC is a coordinating body of Nepali organizations in North America founded in 1991. It counts among its members, over 25 Nepali organizations from all over the USA and Canada.