Anita BK of Narethanti village in Baglung district was only 11-year-old when she was reportedly arrested by the then Royal Nepal Army in 2002. Anita is believed to be one of many victims of enforced disappearance that took place during the decade-long Maoist insurgency. 

The conflict ended in November, 2006, with the former rebels joining the peace process. Now after nearly 10 years of the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement, a transitional justice body formed to investigate into the cases of enforced disappearance, perpetrated by both the state security force and the Maoist rebels, has started to register complaints from the friends and relatives of the victims. The Commission of Investigation on Enforced Disappeared Persons (CIEDP) has teamed up with local peace committees in different parts of the country, including Baglung, to register the conflict-era cases.

Anita’s mother Saraswoti BK walked nearly 40 km from her home in Narethanti VDC to reach the district headquarters to register the complaint about her daughter’s disappearance with the Local Peace Committee on Monday. 

“My daughter was visiting her aunt when the Army captured her on the way. It has been 14 years. I don’t know if she is alive or not,” Saraswoti said.

For a family affected by conflict, it is difficult to lead a normal life in the community. Saraswoti said her daughter’s disapperance has gravely affected her husband, Harilal. 

“After our daughter disappeared, my husband slipped into depression and started drinking heavily. He is not quite himself these days, speaks to himself,” Saraswoti said. With her husband suffering from depression and their only son unfit to take care of the family due to his mental health issues, it has fallen upon Saraswoti to run the family without any steady source of income.

The predicament of the BK family is also shared by others who have lost their loved ones in the conflict. They hope that learning about the status and whereabouts of their missing kin would offer them the much-needed closure to help them lead their lives. 

Laxmi Kumari Sharma, the secretary of Local Peace Committee in Baglung, said many people telephoned the office to register their complaints on Monday. According to Sharma, they have a record of 139 murders and 102 kidnappings perpetrated by either the Maoist rebels or the Army in the district during the conflict period.