Nearly eight years after the conflict ended, female relatives of victims find strength in numbers
UNITED BY GRIEF: Moti, who is carrying a photo of her disappeared husband, and Kumari were among the 70 women representing victims from both sides of the conflict, who travelled to Kathmandu last week to share their experiences.
Moti C, 56, travelled five days from Kalikot in far western Nepal to Kathmandu with three aims in mind: attend the National Journey to Peace and Justice Workshop, find her husband, and get the legal allowance she is entitled to as compensation of the spouse of a disappeared person.
She was among 70 other women from 38 districts who came to the capital last week to share their stories, concerns, and hopes. They also got legal advice, shared a panel discussion with experts, wrote a formal declaration, and submitted it to the government. The workshop that brought together affected women from both sides of the conflict has been the first event ever of this kind in post-conflict Nepal.
Torture victims, women with disabilities and wives of disabled husbands, ex-female combatants, conflict widows, victims of the Madhes Andolan, and women affected by displacement, gender-based violence, and disappearances, were the eight categories selected by the two organisers, Women Human Rights (WHR) and Sankalpa.
On the first day, Moti took a small photo out of her bag and held it in her fingers. It is her husband who disappeared during the conflict 13 years ago. She still hopes she can find him. Women like Moti don’t just want compensation, they also want the truth.
Sangita B is in her early 20s and has been running from one government office to another to inquire about the fate of her father, who was also disappeared 10 years ago. According to existing laws, families of the disappeared need to wait 12 years before they can claim property rights and other entitlements. For the estimated 1,300 families with disappeared members, this has caused social, economic, and psychological trauma.
PICS: JUANITA MALAGON
There are no official figures about conflict affected women and the government’s tally differs with that from human rights groups. What this means is that many victims are denied the basic right to food, medical services, jobs, and reintegration into society. Some of the victims have received training and financial compensation, but there has been no effort to find out what they really need.
Kumari S is 30 and carries her two-year-old boy to the podium during the conference to introduce herself as a victim of torture. She’s from Ramechhap and explains that she was tortured and harassed because her husband was in the army. Listening to her and nodding their heads are many other women with similar stories. Some weep and the others comfort them. They are from different sides in the conflict, but today they face the same problems: bereavement, the mental strain of having to deal with disappeared relatives, lack of money, stigmatisation and discrimination, illnesses, and little opportunity to improve their lives.
Many of the women are survivors and have become stronger because of their suffering, they raise their hands and participate in the discussions confidently. It is obvious they are empowered by solidarity and each other’s presence. When the final draft of their collective declaration is open for discussion, they break into applause to show approval. They want to be loud because they want to be heard. They know that together they can make a difference and change their lives for the better.
At the end of the three day long workshop Moti, Sangita, Kumari, and the other women return to their homes across Nepal. They say the trip has made them feel better and they appreciate the support they got from their peers and the organisers. They now know that they are heard because they have a collective voice.
Women for Human Rights
www.whr.org.np
(01) 444 6020
Sankalpa
www.sankalpa.org.np
(01) 5554158
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Same road, SRIJANA ACHARYA
Truth, now
On 2 January, Nepal’s Supreme Court ruled out the provision of amnesty for serious war crimes included in the ordinance signed by President Ram Baran Yadav in March 2013 and directed the government to form two separate commissions on Truth and Reconciliation and Enforced Differences.
As power-sharing negotiations for a new government get underway, the issue of justice for war crimes will no doubt play an important role in the give and take. But conflict victims are worried that like previous governments, the new one too will try to sweep conflict-era atrocities under the carpet and stall the formation of the commissions.
“The power centres shifted after the November election, but nothing has changed at the leadership level,” says Ram Kumar Bhandari, a human rights activist whose father was disappeared by state security forces in 2001. “The political leaders will try to save each other’s back this time round too, which will delay the implementation of the SC’s verdict.”
On Friday, conflict victims and their families from across Nepal will travel to Kathmandu to submit a letter to President Yadav demanding to know the truth and reminding the state that the war is far from over for them.
2.30pm, 7 February, Shivapuri School, Maharajgunj
Rita Sen Oli, Butwal
I was waiting for my husband Gir Bahadur to come home for lunch when I heard a loud explosion outside. An assistant sub-inspector, he was deployed for security at Rammani College, Butwal that day and was among the dozens of police officers killed in the ambush. He said he would come back so we could eat together, but that was the last I ever heard from him.
It is difficult running the family with a fraction of his pension money. But more than that, what hurts me the most is seeing senior police officers, who I had hoped would help me and other families find justice, kowtowing to Maoist leaders. Subsequent governments have failed to live up to their promise of providing closure to families of war victims on both sides.
Rangamati Rajbanshi, Jhapa**
**On the morning of 4 April 2004, Nepal Army soldiers came knocking at our door to tell me that they had killed my husband Sambhu because he was a Maoist. He had a habit of disappearing for days on end without informing me, but I had no idea that he was a part of the rebel army. We found his bloodied body bearing bullet wounds near the banks of the Mai River. There was no investigation and since the army was involved we feared losing our lives too.
We left our village and moved to Damak. I borrowed money from friends and family and started a small tea shop, but life has been extremely difficult since losing the sole bread-winner of the family. I can’t afford to send my two sons to school, so they now work as daily wage labourers. The Rs 300,000 that the government provided us as compensation was mostly spent on repaying our debt. It has been years since anybody from the Maoist party visited us. We have no savings or steady source of income. I am getting old now and I often worry about my sons.
I also fear that I will die without knowing who killed my husband and why the perpetrators were never put behind bars.
Mangali Gurung, Chitwan
It has been 11 years since I last saw my husband Jhalendra. I was pregnant with our second daughter when the army took him away saying that he was a wildlife poacher. The next morning, I heard in the news that he had been killed in an ambush. I refuse to believe in the lie until they show me his dead body or the place where he was killed and buried.
Although I had a slight inkling that Jhalendra was involved with the Maoist party, I never questioned him. Besides, he had done nothing wrong. After his death, I have had to fight very hard for my basic rights including obtaining a citizenship and a fair share of his property to secure my daughters’ future. My quest for justice will not stop until the day government tells me the whole truth and gives me the name of my husband’s murderers.
Reporting by Sabita Shrestha, Bachu BK, and Gopal Gartoula