July 14, 2014
The government has retracted from its earlier decision to bring the body of Shama Rinpoche, the 14th Shamarpa, a prominent spiritual figure of Tibetan Buddhism, into Nepal from India to perform his final rites.
Acting on an application filed at the Foreign Ministry in Kathmandu, the Nepali Embassy in New Delhi had earlier issued ‘no objection letter’ to let the body into Nepal. The embassy issued the letter without any consultation, thinking that the Rinpoche was a religious leader who ran a monastery in Nepal.
A Home Ministry source said the ‘no objection letter’ had been withdrawn under pressure from the Chinese Embassy in Kathmandu. The embassy requested the Home Ministry not to issue a permit upon learning that a representative of the Dalai Lama from Dharmashala was scheduled to accompany the body to Kathmandu and that the Tibetan community was preparing for a rally in the Bouddha area, according to the source.
Acting Nepali Ambassador to India Krishna Prasad Dhakal said the last rites of a foreign national who died outside the country cannot be performed in Nepal. He, however, remained tight-lipped when asked why the embassy earlier issued ‘no objection letter’ to allow the Rinpoche’s body into Nepal.
The Rinpoche was the 14th Shamarpa who was born in Derge, Tibet, in 1952. He ran Shar Minub Monastery in Nagarjuna, Kathmandu. The Shamarpa possessed a Bhutanese passport.
The 61-year-old spiritual leader who passed away in Germany last month following a heart attack was brought to India on June 22. His body is now at the Shri Diwakar Institute in Kalimpong in West Bengal.
“Due to some unanticipated circumstances, we have to postpone the departure of Shamar Rinpoche’s ‘kudung’ (remains) from Kalimpong on July 13,” the official website of Shamarpa stated on Saturday.
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