Policeman attacked for stopping Friday prayers in mosque in Nepal

A group of Muslim youths in Nepal allegedly manhandled a police official after he tried to stop Friday prayers in a mosque in southern Nepal in view of the lockdown due to the coronavirus outbreak.

Violating the three-week long nationwide lockdown imposed by the government to curb the spread of COVID-19, a large number of Muslims gathered at a mosque in Paroh Rural Municipality of Rautahat district on Friday to offer prayers, police said.

An Assistant Sub-Inspector of Police, Munmun Singh went to the mosque and urged the people to stop prayers. However, a group of Muslim youths allegedly manhandled him, police said.

Following the incident, a large number of Armed Police Force and Nepal police personnel were deployed in the area to bring the situation under control, police said.

Police have arrested three youths from the mosque for manhandling the ASI.

We are preparing to file a case against the arrested people after an investigation, said Superintendent of Police Rabiraj Khadka.

The government has imposed nationwide lockdown till April 15 to check the spread of the coronavirus pandemic. So far, only nine people have been tested positive.

One has already been cured and eight people are undergoing treatment.

In total 4,426 tests have been conducted across the country.

To control spread of coronavirus, the government initially imposed an 8-day lockdown in March, but later extended it twice, on April 1 and April 7 till April 15.

International and domestic flights have been halted till April end and all long route bus services also remained suspended till mid-April.

Meanwhile, 200 Japanese tourists, stranded in Nepal, were flown to Japan on Saturday on board a chartered flight.

A Nepal Airlines Corporation flight departed for Narita, Japan on Saturday carrying some 200 Japanese nationals who had been stranded in the country due to the lockdown.

The NAC aircraft was chartered by the Japanese Embassy in Kathmandu. Similarly, a Korean Air flight departed for Seoul on Saturday carrying 300 Korean tourists stranded in Nepal.According to Nepal Tourism Board, around 3,000 stranded foreigners have been repatriated so far from Nepal within the past one month.