Kathmandu, April 10

Minister for Home Affairs today said the government would not spare anyone, who attempted to foment violence and instability under religious mask.

Stating that some criminal elements were spreading terror and targeting a sect, he said such persons or groups would be booked under the existing laws. Home Minister Thapa said this while receiving a memorandum from 48 Hindu religious organisations at the Ministry of Home Affairs in Singha Durbar today.

A delegation of Hindu organisations demanded that the government arrest the perpetrators who opened fire on religious leader Swami Shriniwas Acharya.

Acharya was injured after unidentified gunmen opened fire on him in Biratnagar on April 8 when he was there for a lecture on religion. Police had recovered two bullet cartridges from the incident site. Minister Thapa told the delegation that police had already arrested two suspects and search for others were under way.

Thapa said he was saddened by the shooting that targeted religious leader Acharya. “I have directed security agencies to identify and bring to book the perpetrators. The government is committed to doing justice to the victim,” he informed.

“Some elements are active in inviting confrontation between people belonging to various groups  in the name of ethnicity and religion. The government will not let them succeed,” Thapa added. He also said that the government would bear the treatment expenses of Acharya as per the demand of the delegation. The Hindu organisations have also demanded that the government form a judicial commission to investigate into the shooting and do the needful to stop ‘attack on Hinduism’.