4 Stories of conflict victims4.1 Unfortunate Minas
If a crow crows in the vicinity of a house it is believed to be conveying a message to the house. There is a village named Kauwaghari in Goltokuri VDC, Dang, named after the crow, called ‘Kauwa’ in the Tharu language, because it was the habitat of thousands of crows long ago. Today one can find a settlement of Sarki families rather than crows in Kauwaghari.
On 30 June 2002, the crows in Kauwaghari brought bad news to the locals. A dozen villagers who had been to the local forest were killed on the spot by the army. An 85-year-old man, Sonbir Nepali (Sarki), said: “Our forefathers migrated to Dang from Salyan in 1885. Since then, we made our living with hard work, but whatever the circumstances we were happy. However, God envied the little happiness that was dwelling in the village and forced my aged eyes to see the dead bodies of the twelve youths, who were in their prime with dreams in their eyes.”
He added that, after migrating to Kauwaghari, the Sarkis started earning their living through their traditional occupation of making leather shoes. Then, the exchange value for a pair of slippers was ten pathi (32.5 kg) of rice and for a pair of shoes, a muri (75 kg) of rice[1] . People used to get three muri of rice as their wage for hammering a horse’s saddle. This was payment enough to sustain the people, but soon after the establishment of Bashbari Shoes Industry the government instituted a tax on leather and the Sarkis were compelled to leave their traditional occupation. They changed to rearing animals, collecting firewood and other work, or as daily waged labourers. Following the cruel murder of twelve innocent men the livelihood of many villagers was disrupted.
This is a story of the family of Resham Nepali, one of the 12 victims. Resham was living with his wife, a son and a daughter, rather than with his parents. After the murder of the only breadwinner in the family, his widow Radha Nepali went through a terrible time, but was unable to go to her in-laws and share her pain.
The three years following the death of her husband was like 30 years to Radha. Her daughter Mina, 10 years old, started helping Radha with household chores, while her son Anil was 4 year-old and going to school. Her children were Radha’s only consolation. She sent her children to school on the morning of 30 August 2005. She used to scold the children if they returned home late from school, but that day she sent the children to play near the house of their grandparents as soon as they were back from school.
Suddenly the horrible news spread through the village that Radha had committed suicide, by hanging herself. Mina and her little brother were instantly orphaned. Now they live with their grandparents. Grandmother Parbati Nepali questions herself all the time, "My son was killed by the security forces, it was his destiny. But I do not understand why my daughter-in-law committed suicide, leaving behind her young children in peril? I am unable to take care of myself, who will care for them?"
Lacking proper care the two orphans, Mina and Anil, look dirty and abandoned. When Mina had boils on her body the family had no money to treat her, and as a result she was unable to go to school for months. Mina, who is now in grade three at a local school says, "We were in great pain when my father was killed, but we were recovering until my mother committed suicide, tortured by her suffering, and the sky fell in on us. Now we have no-one in the world; our children’s club is the only way to forget all the pains of life."
There are many unfortunate children like Mina and Anil in Kauwaghari. Although they were not directly involved in the war, these little ones have become its victims. Now, they have been deprived of everything; there isn’t even a hand to soothe them.
[1] 1 muri = 75 kg, 1 muri = 20 pathi