1. First Quran in Nepali adds cheer to Bakr Eid
[By Tuesday, December 09, 2008  by IANS(Thaindian News)]
As the former Hindu kingdom of Nepal celebrated the holy Muslim festival of Bakr Eid from Tuesday, for thousands of Muslims there was an additional cause to rejoice with the government for the first time announcing a public holiday on the occasion and the first Quran in Nepali language being offered to the faithful. “We thank the government for declaring Bakr Eid a state holiday,” said Sheikh Ali Mirza, an Imam at Kathmandu’s Kashmiri Masjid, one of the two main mosques in the capital. 

2.Muslims in Nepal demand reservation
[By Gorkhapatra.org.np]

Intellectual Muslim Association of Nepal (IMAN) has demanded 10 per cent reservation in the constituent assembly (CA) from the Muslim community, according to a press statement of the organisation. Stating that the government's mindset towards Muslim community was discriminatory, the IMAN said that the community should be represented in the CA through a proportional electoral system. The CA without proper representation from Muslim, Dalit, Janajati, and Madhesi communities would not be proper for mapping New Nepal, the statement read. 

3.  Nepal Muslim
[By International Islamic News  Agency(IINA)]
Muslims of Nepal speak the Urdu language, and they constitute eight percent of the total population of 14,000,000. The majority of the Muslims live in the mountainous areas adjacent to the border with India, but their economic situation leaves much to be desired. They are not involved in any commercial or industrial undertakings, and the majority of them are either unskilled laborers or small-scale subsistence farmers, with a sprinkling of some lower-level civil servants.

4.  MUSLIMS of NEPAL: Becoming an assertive minority
Hindu Monarchy with Hinduism as State religion ruled Nepal for centuries. The system of governance was also based on Hindu scriptures. As Buddhism was accepted as a part of Hindu society, the followers of this religion had no problem in the kingdom. But Muslims, the third religious group in the kingdom was allowed to practice their faith under certain restrictions. They were debarred from propagation of Islam or to follow the Islamic code Shariat in respect of dissolution of marriage by oral pronouncement of the word ‘Talaq’ thrice. In case of inheritance also they were to follow the Hindu-scriptures based code of Nepal. Any violation of Hindu scriptures based Nepal Code was a punishable offence. The situation therefore, was not congenial for the Islamic community to settle there.

5. Nepal  
[By CIA THE WORLD FACTBOOK]
 

Ethnic groups:

Chhettri 15.5%, Brahman-Hill 12.5%, Magar 7%, Tharu 6.6%, Tamang 5.5%, Newar 5.4%, Muslim 4.2%, Kami 3.9%, Yadav 3.9%, other 32.7%, unspecified 2.8% (2001 census)

Religions:

Hindu 80.6%, Buddhist 10.7%, Muslim 4.2%, Kirant 3.6%, other 0.9% (2001 census)

6. Nepal Muslims Demand Seats in National Election
[By Javno.com]

A leading Muslim group in Nepal said on Saturday it would organize street protests if the government does not meet its demand. A leading Muslim group in Nepal said on Saturday it would organize street protests if the government does not meet its demand to set aside seats for its community in November elections. The elections will elect a constituent assembly to prepare a new constitution and decide the fate of the monarchy in the majority-Hindu nation. 

Religion: Nepal is the world’s only constitutionally declared Hindu state, and the constitution protects religious and cultural freedom. According to the 2001 census, 80.6 percent of Nepalese are Hindu, 10.7 percent are Buddhist, 4.2 are Muslim, 3.6 percent are Kirat (an indigenous religion), 0.5 percent are Christian, and 0.4 percent are classified as other groups. Although the population is mostly Hindu, since the 1971 census Hindus have shown the greatest decline as a proportion of the population, and Buddhists and Kirats have increased the most: in 1971 Hindus were 89.4 percent of the population, Buddhists 7.5 percent, and Kirats statistically 0 percent. However, statistics on religious groups are complicated by the ubiquity of dual faith practices—particularly among Hindus and Buddhists. Moreover, shifts in the population’s religious composition also reflect political changes.

Apparently for the first time ever in the Nepal's history, the army shot dead two Muslims inside a mosque 20 km east of headquarters of Nawalparsi in Nepal on May 5, according to reports in Indian newspapers today. Confirming the news, a Nawalparsi district official said the authorities reportedly acted on a tip-off that 'explosives' were hidden inside the mosque. Those killed allegedly worked earlier in an ammunition factory in India.
[By IslamOnline(IOL)]