1 Introduction
Background
History is dominated by stories of power, and is written by the powerful. There are many books related to conflict and its management, almost all published either by academics or those doing the fighting. They say little about the ordinary people caught up in conflict and fail to give us the perspective of those directly affected by conflict. Documentation of their experiences, outlook and reactions are crucial to understanding conflict, but this task is rarely undertaken.
In Nepal such an exercise has never been done. Now, after the conflict, it is important to record the experience of the poor, powerless and marginalized. This book, “Sighs of the conflict – Impact, coping mechanisms and rebuilding of lives in Dang” is an effort to do this.
Objectives
To share experiences and feelings in the style of peer-counselling
To document the daily activities and experiences of conflict victims
To record the conflict and its implications
To empower conflict victims.
Methodology
This book has been prepared through the use of participant observation, the journals of those affected by conflict, and by listening to victims’ stories. To authenticate reports, various books and other sources have been accessed.
This is not an academic work and so documentation was begun from our own locality using locally available means. Dang, SEED’s working district, was selected for the study for convenience; documentation was straightforward and readily supervised, and the area accessible.
No special study group was formed; the group comprised children, women, adults and older people from the selected areas. To add rigor and oversight, a team leader and volunteers were also assigned.
After the documentation procedure was finalised, volunteers were selected. The criteria of the selection were: he/she should come from the locality and, if possible, should be a victim who had passed School Leaving Certificate or intermediate studies. An orientation class for volunteers was organised on 29 July 2006 in Tulsipur. The coordinator of ‘People’s Documentation for Peace of Nepal’, Masako Tanaka, who inspired the study group, facilitated the session.
2 Dang District
2.1 Location and history
Dang district is located in the Mid West development region of Nepal, some 12 hours drive from Kathmandu. It lies between 213 and 2,048 metres above sea level and has an area of 295,500 hectares. Topographically, Dang comprises the Dang and Deukhuri valleys. Dang valley is situated between the Mahabharata and Churia ranges and Deukhuri between the Churia and Dudawa ranges. Geographically the district is divided into the Churia range of hills and the inner Tarai.
The district has 39 VDCs and two Municipalities. Total population is 462,380 with 228,958 males and 233,422 females. According to statistics, there are 147,328 Tharus, 105,146 Chhetris in Dang and 55,711 Magars. Other groups present include Brahmins, Dalits, Sanyasi, Yadavs, Thakuri, Muslim and Newars.
It is believed that Tharus lived in the region from the Stone Age. According to David Seddon, Tharus have occupied the area from around 300,000 years ago. It is also assumed that Dang derives its name from a Tharu king, Dangisharan, who ruled the area some five thousand years ago.
Dang is a district with a unique historical, economic, political, social and cultural identity. It is a fertile land and a major habitat of Tharus. Before 1912, when the new land management system came into operation, only Tharus were settled in Dang, but after the eradication of malaria they started migrating from the district. At this time Tharus owned 90 per cent of all land in the district. Later, non-Tharus started migrating to the district and the Government, and powerful local leaders captured land and enslaved Tharus: this is a major cause of the historical conflict in Dang. To win back their land the Tharus struggled hard for years and initiated efforts at a land revolution. Gumara Tharu, leader of the farmers’ movement, who famously said: ‘land belongs to those who plough and houses belong to those who scrub’ was shot dead by the then administration on 21 July 1960.
There is a long history of incidents of domination, oppression and exploitation of Tharus, who have been in revolt since Panchayat rule began; many sacrificed their lives fighting for their rights. However, these incidents never benefited any of the Tharu communities, only landlords benefited. Even after the political transformation in 1990, the Tharu community gained nothing: the nature of domination changed, but fundamentally the oppression remained unchanged. This fuelled anger and dissatisfaction in the hearts of Tharus towards the Nepali state and its rulers.
2.2 Conflict in Dang
Initially the Maoist revolution had little impact in Dang, since the neighbouring districts of Rolpa, Rukum and Salyan were focal points of the ‘People’s war’. When, in later years, the Maoists realised the strategic importance of Dang, their interest in the district increased, as did the impact of the conflict on it. The domination of the people by the state further stimulated Maoist agitation, and both the state and Maoists competed to parade their power in Dang where poor Tharus, Dalits and all underprivileged communities ultimately became the victims.
Maoists attacked Ghorahi, headquarters of Dang, on 23 November 2001, killing 37 security personnel, including 14 soldiers of the then Royal Nepal Army. The Maoists succeeded in capturing a large cache of weapons and the attack ended negotiations that were taking place between Maoists and the Government. The Government responded by announcing a nationwide state of emergency from 26 November 2001. The situation in Dang continued to worsen and insecurity reined in the district. The infuriated security forces began undertaking careless and one sided actions in various parts of Dang: five days after the declaration of the emergency state forces killed 11 innocent Tharu farmers from Bargaddi village. Maoists took advantage of the people’s desire for vengeance and recruited large numbers of Tharu youth into their ranks. The homeland of the innocent Tharus turned into a theatre of war, grief and lamentation. Data from the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), released on 30 August 2006, stated that after 2001 a total of 936 people were abducted nationally (these are still missing); 563 by state forces, 315 by the Maoists and 58 by unidentified groups. In Dang alone security forces abducted 56 people and the Maoists two.
According to data from the Informal Sector Service Centre (INSEC), a total of 686 people were killed in Dang between 13 February 1996 and 9 September 2006. State forces killed 422 people: 10 female, 312 male and 100 not unidentified by gender. Similarly, Maoists killed 264 people: 7 female and 257 male. Data shows that both sides targeted men more than women and that the state killed four times more people than the Maoists.
Table 1 : Number of people killed in Dang district
Perpetrator/ Female/ Male/ Unknown/ Total
Government forces/ 10 / 312 / 100/ 422
Maoist forces/ 7 / 257 / 0/ 264
Total/ 17 / 569/ 100/ 686
Although Chhetris have the second highest population in the district, they occupy first position on death counts, i.e. 220. Local scholar Bharat Dahal says, “Traditionally, Chhetris are engaged in security and the armed forces: their number is high in both armed forces and hence their death rate is high.” Tharus comprises the second highest number of deaths. Megh Raj Ghimire, principal of Gyan Jyoti Primary School, reports: “A total of 200 Tharus have died because Tharus were predominantly in the role of fighters in both forces.” Intellectuals say Tharus are perceived as Maoists by the government and many of them were killed as a result of false allegations against them.
Table 2: Number of dead by caste and ethnic group
Caste/ Total Population/No. of Dead
Chhetri/ 105,146/ 220
Tharu/ 147,328/ 200
Magar/ 55,711/ 88
Dalit (Kami, Damai Sarki)/ 44,921/ 78
Hill Brahmin/ 49,906/ 58
Newar/ 4,094/ 14
Others/ 55,274/ 28
Total/ 462,380/ 686