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Instead of showing feelings of hatred, the Bhaktapur locals can set an example of humanity by welcoming the China evacuees

“Right to life is the right of all citizens. Beware Nepal government! Treatment of coronavirus disease should not be carried out in human settlements; do not play with the health of locals; withdraw the government decision to set up a treatment centre at Kharipati Training Centre; the local people should not be displaced on the pretext of (coronavirus) treatment”. A black banner, symbolising a protest, has been put up by the locals outside the NEA Training Centre, Bhaktapur, which has been vacated for quarantining Nepalis returning from China’s Hubei province, hit hard by the virus that has already claimed the lives of more than 800 people. The training centre is one of the several facilities identified by the government to quarantine the Nepali evacuees, who will be spending there around two weeks before they are allowed to meet with their families back home. The government has no option other than to keep them, most of them students, in the government buildings, where they can be provided with healthcare and other support round the clock. Since the government cannot build a separate hospital for them in weeks’ time, what the government has decided is a welcome move, which should be backed by people from all walks of life, including the Bhaktapur locals.

It is mean-mindedness on the part of the Bhaktapur locals to oppose the government’s plan to house the Nepali returnees from China under a two-week quarantine when the entire world is frantically grappling with the “global health emergency” as described by the World Health Organisation weeks ago. Obviously, the locals did not resort to protesting the plan on their own. It is the Nepal Workers and Peasants Party, led by none other than the seasoned politician, Narayanman Bijuckchhe, who provoked the locals to take to the streets to protest the plan a couple of days ago. Rather than showing utmost sympathy and goodwill toward the affected Nepalis, Bijuckchhe, his party and the locals are treating them as if they were aliens and not fellow brethren who need our support in this time of crisis.

It is the duty of all responsible citizens to show sympathy and extend cooperation to the extent possible whenever people from any part of the country suffer from natural disasters like an earthquake, outbreak of an epidemic, a flood or a landslide. As a nation, w

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