Families of disappeared remain neglected

BAGLUNG, Sept 3: Saraswati BK still hopes that her daughter, Anita, who went missing at the hands of the state 12 years ago during the decade-long Maoist insurgency, would return home one find day.



Every time there is a mention of her daughter, the aging woman from the Dalit community of Narethati VDC-2 in Baglung, burst into tears.

Anita was reportedly whisked away by Nepal Army personnel on the charge of being a Maoist rebel back in 2001. [break]



Her mother could not hold back tears at a program organized in Baglung on Tuesday to press the government to find out the whereabouts of 25 people who have been missing at the hands of the state security forces in the wake of the armed conflict.

“I hope that my daughter would come back to me. Every time the phone rings, I think my daughter might have called,” sobbed BK.

What torments her even more is that no body seems to be bothered about Anita´s fate.



“We remain voiceless. Even the neighbors haven´t supported us. I deserve to know my daughter´s whereabouts,” the mother demanded.

Jasoda Sharma´s husband, Surya Prasad, was also whisked away by the Nepal Army in 2001 for interrogation-and he, too, went missing.

Jasoda, who hails from Baglaung Municipality-2, who virtually left no stone unturned to find out the whereabouts of her spouse, now feels dejected.

After the state remained apathetic to her repeated pleas, she had even approached the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in Nepal.



The OHCHR had then urged the government to disclose Surya Prasad´s fate in 180 days-but to no avail.

“The OHCHR had even asked the government to provide Rs 200,000 as compensation, but that too has not been implemented yet,” said Jasoda, complaining that the state has simply neglected the families of those who have disappeared at its hands.

Similar is the plight of the kin of those who have gone missing at the hands of the then Maoist insurgents.



Khum Lal Sharma´s daughter-in-law remains missing ever since she was whisked away by the then Maoist rebels during the bloody conflict.

Madhu Sharma of Paiyuthantap is still running from pillar to post in search of her missing spouse.

Meanwhile, the perpetrators on both the sides feel they have been fair enough - by proposing a Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which is yet to materialize.

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