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Conflict wounds too deep to heal
- Govt apathy fuelling fury among victims
POKHARA, AUG 29 -
“It is an agonising ordeal not knowing where and in what condition he is at,” says Radhika Simkhada, the wife of a missing man.
The Nepal Army had captured Radhika’s husband, Phanindra, during the insurgency. She has not heard of him ever since. She has grown weaker, physically and emotionally, over the years and happiness has vanished away.
“I’m exhausted after all these years of trying and asking the government to make his whereabouts public,” laments the mother who sells vegetables at Pokhara Buspark to support her two daughters and a son.
Five years after Phanindra’s disappearance, another tragedy befell Radhika with the death of her eldest son, Hemmani. “It was the army once again, they shot him dead,” she cries. “It would mean a lot if only the government finds my husband.”
Radhika’s story echoes with that of Sita Baskota of Rakhi in Kaski. Sita’s husband, Devraj, has been missing for over six years and she too lost her 20-year-old son in her husband’s absence.
“I see no reason for living these days,” she says. “Everyone dear to my life is either dead or… I don’t know if he is alive or dead.”
Families of the victims of forced disappearance say the government has not done anything to make the status of their kin known. Most of these families have lost their breadwinners, thus making their life an everyday struggle. They vent ire on the government for not taking their plight seriously.
“All we want is whereabouts of our relatives be made public and action against the guilty,” says Ananath Baral of Society for Family of Disappeared.
Over 20 people were said to be the victims of forced disappearance in Kaski.
Posted on: 2010-08-30 07:57
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