Hundreds of Buddhists staged a protest in the Nepalese capital, Kathmandu, yesterday, to protest against Maoist chief Pushpa Kamal Dahal’s connection to a development project in Lumbini, the birthplace of Buddha. Lhakpa Sherpa of the Buddhism Preservation Stakeholders Committee said politicians were breaching the sanctity of a religious place like Lumbini by transforming it into a tourism destination. The committee was formed by the government to develop Lumbini, 240km southwest of Kathmandu, as a world Buddhist tourism destination. Demonstrators held placards demanding Dahal be removed from the position of director of the Lumbini Development Committee. They have demanded a follower of Buddhism should be appointed to the post. Dahal, who is co-ordinator of the development committee, lead the decade-long Maoist insurgency in Nepal, which ended in 2006 after the signing of a peace deal with the government. 16,000 people were killed in the conflict. DPA