"My eldest was taken by the Maoists. The other son was taken by the army. I don´t know where my daughter is either,” said Dudha, who came to Surkhet recently. [break]
On August 1, 2003, her eldest son Prem was press-ganged by the Maoists. The 14-year-old Prem, a sixth grader at Gela Secondary School, was taken from the classroom by Maoists who said they needed him for establishing a new people´s government.
Just three days later, the army took her other son, Kamal. The 9-year-old was taken away by the army, alleging that he was a Maoist.
Many who were taken away by the Maoists or by the army back then have since returned. But Dudha´s two sons have not.
”My elder son might not have returned for fear of the Maoists. But I don´t know for what reason Kamal has not,” she said.
Owing to poverty and lack of awareness, Dudha never ventured outside her village to look for her sons. All she could manage was request the villagers to do something about it. But her pleas have moved no one.
”I even told Maoists who came to the village to return my son to me. They said he had gone off to war and would return some day,” she said.
By now, she has given up hope of see her sons again.
It has also been four years since Dudha lost track of her third child, a daughter. Danta, who joined the Maoists a few days after they took Kamal away, remained in touch with her until November, 2006. Dudha later heard that she had gotten married to a Maoist cadre. That was the last she heard of her.
”Some say she went to India. Others say she is in a Maoist camp,” Dudha said. ”If she were alive, she would come to see her mother.”
Families that have had loved ones go missing during the conflict have received assistance from the state as well as from many other organizations after the peace process started. But Dudha has received nothing. She does not even know whether her children feature in the list of the disappeared.
When her husband Dhanapati passed away 11 years ago, Dudha had consoled herself looking at her children. "Today, my children also are not with me,” she said.
Dudha had been earning a living doing household chores for others until two months ago when she injured her leg.
She has came to Surkhet for treatment and is wandering the streets with a written notice requesting donations.
Man Singh Nepali of Odanku, who brought her to Surkhet, said, "Doctors say her injury has deteriorated and she might have developed cancer. There is no money. How can she get treatment?”
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