By Rick M 
Following days of tension that resulted from the barbaric act of slaughtering a bull, Dharan City, which is located in the eastern region of Nepal, is slowly regaining normalcy. It happened last week and caused a lot of controversy on social networks and in local communities as far as concerns issues of cultural and religious appropriateness.
The misunderstanding started earlier this year when people from one of the indigenous tribes slaughtered a bull for food, which many Hindu people consider a criminal act as most of them are vegetarians and see cows as holy animals. Soon, the whole event caused discursive practices regarding cultural rights, religious tolerance, and traditional and post-traditional Nepali society multiculturalism.
Local authorities, such as the Minister of the local government and Mayor, Harka Sampang Rai, have been trying to ensure there is no Spark that will trigger any riotous incident. After the Dharan sub-metropolitan city government put into force prohibitory orders over the weekend, fearing the possibility of violence, which has not largely been seen in controlling violence.
In spite of having apprehension of unrest the city of Dharan has been comparatively quite. The city mobilized about 1,500 security personnel in key entry points and other areas to avert any mischief. It successfully prevented an estimated 1000 protesters from other districts from storming the city on Saturday as planned.
Acting Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal has urged people to be restrained and to engage in constructive discussion. On Saturday, he said religious provoking words and acts from those who protested as well as indigenous people and called for embracing each other for the purpose of finding solutions to conflicts and other challenges.
From the same issue, there have been concerns about social networks and their influence as well as their risks in influencing the content of public opinion. There are also a lot of misconceptions and fake news shared on social media; several examples are false stories and fake pictures. Nepal Fact Check and other similar organizations have been struggling with the dissemination of fake news, such as the video of the consumption of bull meat, which was recorded in Chitwan in 2022.
It is grief and horror for some, and even unnoticed for others – that is, the feeling of local residents regarding the tragedy and its consequences. While most people breathed a sigh of relief, seeing that there has been no violence associated with the decision, there is a stir about the emerging tensions that the controversy represents. Others have accused Mayor Sampang of not doing enough by pointing at him as an activist whose failure to act led to the deterioration of the conflict.
When the conflict is no longer an issue, leaders in these communities and local government authorities are deploying efforts to encourage positive interaction between the conflicting parties. In addition, some are demanding that a debate that includes issues on cultural practices, religious intolerance, and the respect of other people’s cultures in the multi ethnic society of Nepal be opened.
The event has also raised legal and constitutional questions related to killing and eating animals in Nepal. However, the constitution of the country guarantees the right to embrace culture as well as religion, but at the same time, it also puts a lot of focus on the animals and cruelty to them.
As with any progression, the key threat of Dharan lies in the future which will be to determine how it is more possible to design a society that will conform to the religious beliefs of both the people and respect the cultural beliefs of the society. This particular event has prompted many people to pray for one another and hope that in the near future, this division will be used to bring communities together in the city and beyond.
Small merchants, which suffered a crisis in their activity during the peak of the tensions, are beginning to regain their orders. Schools and colleges, which remained closed as a measure of precaution, have declared that they will reopen soon.
The night is drawing over another day in Dharan, although the lights that burn in the windows may dim the fear which still lingers in the air: a fear that has slowly been replaced by a subtle hope. Despite the fact that people have not forgotten the events of the recent controversy, there is already a perception that the city is overcoming the crisis. All the same, it remains to be seen as Dharan faces the litmus test over the weeks and months to come and confronts some of the underlying problems raised by the incident.