Fathers killed by opposite sides

The Maoist insurgency began 30 years ago and ended 20 years ago, yet for tens of thousands of survivors and families of victims there has been no closure. The physical battles are a part of Nepal’s history, but the fight for truth and justice endures. 

In the decade of conflict, 17,000 Nepalis were killed at the hands of fellow Nepalis, and 1,400 are still ‘missing’. There was suffering and pain on both sides, with the heaviest toll on innocent civilians.

Ram Bhandari and Suman Adhikari both lost their fathers to opposing sides in the war in Lamjung district. Both are now human rights activists.

Ram Bhandari’s father was forcibly disappeared from Besisahar of Lamjung by state security in December 2001, soon after the Royal Nepali Army joined the conflict. Accused of being a  Maoist, Tej Bahadur Bhandari was taken in by soldiers, and never seen again. 

“My father was a man of many talents, well-loved in the community. He had an artistic mind, loved comedy and theatre,” Bhandari remembers fondly. 

Tej Bahadur Bhandari was his son’s teacher at school, a guardian at home, and his closest friend. “When we learnt of his disappearance, our whole world crumbled. My family’s way of life changed,” says Ram Bhandari.

Witnesses saw Tej Bahadur being blindfolded and beaten in broad daylight before being pushed into a van.

“If we were told his body was buried somewhere, perhaps we would’ve coped better. But we weren’t given any location to look for, there was no sign of him anywhere,” says Ram Bhandari. “Even 25 years later, all we are left with are burning questions, and a rage that cannot be quelled.”

Ram Bhandari became a human rights activist, founding the National Network of Families of the Disappeared (NEFAD) to fight for truth and accountability.

THE OTHER SIDE

Suman Adhikari endured similar pain, but inflicted by the Maoists. His father Muktinath Adhikari was a science teacher at a school in the same district as Tej Bahadur Bhandari.

Maoist rebels took him away in front of his students while he was teaching class in January 2002. They tied him to a tree and shot him for not supporting the revolution, and for teaching Sanskrit.