Kathmandu, January 26

The Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation has sent letters to several friendly countries via the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, seeking corrections in reading materials, which have falsely mentioned the birthplace of Gautam Buddha as lying outside Nepal.

In its letter sent on January 20, the Archaeology Division under the ministry has reminded the countries of the fact that Siddhartha Gautam (Buddha) was born in Lumbini of Nepal and that it was listed as the World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1997 in acceptance of this fact.

The ministry has appealed to the friendly countries, including US, China, Japan, Sri Lanka, Thailand, India and the Netherlands to correct information published and broadcast and archived there.

The ministry sent the letters to the concerned countries through the foreign ministry as per the recent decision taken by the Cabinet.

Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Minister Ananda Prasad Pokharel said the letters were sent in order to correct false information related to Buddha’s birthplace in reading materials in the countries that are Nepal’s friends.