The Home Ministry set up a task force to investigate disappearances and when it brought out a list last month, Machendra Limbu of Sunsari went through it over and over again. But he couldn't find the name of his 22-year-old son, Uttam. Wiping tears from his eyes, Machendra says simply: "I thought I'd find him on the list this time but my heart has given up now." Security forces had picked up Uttam at night from his home three years ago. Uttam's 56-year-old mother says, "I have cried so much that I have no tears left. If he is alive they should just tell us he is alive, if he is dead tell us he is dead. Why torment us like this?"

Also in Sunsari, Dal Bahadur and Padam Kumari Magar last saw their son, 34-year-old Hari, on the same night that Uttam Limbu disappeared. Dal Bahadur and Padam Kumari (pictured) weep openly remembering their son. Hari's 26-year-old wife Hari Maya says, "My in-laws are old, I have to take care of everything." Sunsari's CDO had told Hari Maya as soon as Hari was taken away that he was in custody but the next day when she went with some of his clothes the district administration denied having him in detention. Harka Majhi also disappeared three years ago. His elderly mother lives in a small shack and still waits for him to return.