Amrita Bohara, now 25 years old, remembers vividly the image of her father when they shared their last time together some 17 years ago. "I would bring you some chocolates upon my return," the words from her father just before he had been leaving for Salyan, the district headquarters of Salyan, still reverberate in her mind. Bohara was eight years old when she had her last time with her father. Now she is 25 years old, but the whereabouts of her father, Bed Bahadur is still unknown.
On January 2, 2002, Bed Bahadur, a teacher of Kapurkot rural municipality-7, was captured and disappeared by the then Royal Nepal Army when he was leaving for Salyan, said the family. "It has been a good 17 years since my father was disappeared. But his status is still unknown. We need him alive or dead," said tearful Bohara.
Ghamanda Budhathoki of Bagchaur Municipality-10 shares the similar predicament. Her son, Pokharsingh, was disappeared during the decade-long Maoist insurgency. "It has been 17 years since my son was disappeared. But his whereabouts are still unknown. Before he left for school, he had told me that he would support me in the future. But he never returned. Now to whom I turn for support. Neither the government nor other concerned authority hear my plea to find his statue," said tearful Budhathoki. Pokharsingh was held and disappeared reportedly by the then army.
Likewise, Dabali Pariyar of Siddha Kumakha Rural Municipality-3 goes from pillar to post waiting for the return of her husband Doti Ram, who was disappeared during the rebellion. "My husband was kind to all. He was ignorant of politics. He would till the land to support the family. Why he was disappeared?" said Dabali, almost breaking down.
The aforementioned three characters are just in point. The total 59 complaints have been lodged in the then local peace committee so far. However, only 39 are proved having disappeared, said the committee's secretary Bishnu Sharma. Families of the remaining disappeared have failed to collect necessary evidences to prove their missing, he added. As a result, they have been deprived of compensation entitled to the family of the disappeared during the insurgency.
Most of the disappeared were breadwinners in their families, and now with their absence, their families are struggling to manage two squares of meal a day.
