National
Kin of disappeared still aching for their loved ones
Phanindra Simkhada of Chitwan joined the Maoist people’s war leaving behind his four children entrusting them to the care of his parents.Phanindra Simkhada of Chitwan joined the Maoist people’s war leaving behind his four children entrusting them to the care of his parents.
Phanindra, who had migrated to Chitwan from Gorkha on February 15, 1998, was arrested by state security forces while he was taking bath at Narayani River.
After learning about her husband’s arrest, his wife, Radhika, started searching for him. She even moved to the Supreme Court from the District Court in search of his whereabouts, but to no avail.
Assuring his father that he would soon return home, Hemmani, Phanindra’s elder brother, who was aligned with the student union of then rebel Maoists, was killed in Pasgaun of Lamjung on September 2, 2003.
“The conflict has ended. Efforts are underway to take the peace process to a logical end. The Maoist party has ruled the country time and again, but the whereabouts of the disappeared persons still remain a mystery,” Radhika said. “Maoist leaders used to say they will not join the government until the whereabouts of disappeared persons are made public,” Radhika bemoaned.
Twenty years have passed but the government has not been able to reveal the whereabouts of the disappeared persons, this is sheer weakness of the government, she decried.
According to statistics, 24 persons were disappeared in Kaski district alone. Twenty three persons were disappeared at the hands of state security forces and one by the Maoist party during a decade-long insurgency.
Aananath Baral, a member of the Family Society of the Disappeared Fighters, said that the Commission of Investigation on Enforced Disappeared Persons (CIEDP) have not worked effectively.
Another victim Dulu Kumari Karki of Palpa said she is waiting for her husband Min Bahadur Karki who went missing since April 7, 2004.
“We have not known the whereabouts of Min Bahadur yet,” said Dulu Kumari.
Some families of the disappeared persons are still hoping against hope that their loved ones will return home one day.
Likewise, former policeman Karnadhoj GC, of Pipaldanda in Rambha Rural Municipality in Palpa district, had gone missing since 1997.
“We still have a hope that he will return home,” said his wife Sumitra, with tear-stained eyes.
The family complained that the state has not provided any relief to them yet.
In Parbat, 19 families have been deprived of relief.
“I spent all of my properties searching for my missing son and still seeking for justice,” said Devi Giri of Kushma-7.
His son Suraj was disappeared from Tilahar on February 14, 2006.