Foreign countries written to correct information on Buddha

Kathmandu, Jan 27: The Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation has sent letters to different 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 stated that reading materials found in the concerned countries mentioned Buddha’s birthplace as lying outside Nepal be rectified.

The Ministry has reminded 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 letter also calls for correcting false and illusionary information shared among the representatives of Nepal and neighbouring country during meetings in the international programmes that Buddha was born outside of Nepal.

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 Nepal Government’s Council of Ministers.

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