Kathmandu, April 21

Rolpa is known as epicentre of Maoist insurgency. Hundreds of people from the mid-west district raised arms against the state and were involved in the decade-long ‘people’s war’.

Hundreds were killed, many more were injured and some were forcibly disappeared from both the warring parties  Maoists and the state.

However, when the time came to report their account to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, as well as Commission on Investigation of Enforced Disappeared Persons, the conflict victims of Rolpa haven’t been forthcoming with complaints.

CIEDP and TRC had started receiving complaints from the victims on April 11 and 17, respectively, but so far they have got only lukewarm response.

“We are wondering why so few people have lodged complaints,” CIEDP spokesperson Prof Bishnu Pathak told The Himalayan Times.

In Rolpa, TRC has so far received 20 complaints, while only one conflict victim has complained to CIEPD, according to TRC Chairman Surya Kiran Gurung.

Gurung had earlier publicly estimated that 25,000 to 35,000 complaints could be lodged in Rolpa, as it was one of the districts most affected by the Maoist insurgency that ended in November 2006.

In the last three days, TRC has received 681 complaints from across the country, while CIEDP has so far received 170 complaints from victims.

Estimating that an overwhelming number of complaints would be filed by the victims in Rolpa, TRC had deputed staffers from its Kathmandu headquarters to the district.

“The reason for relatively fewer complaints could be that either the local people didn’t get information on time or they just wanted to lodge their complaints later.”

Some say fewer complaints from Rolpa means that conflict victims have little faith in TRC and CIEDP’s ability to provide them justice.

It may be recalled that no vote was cast in Thabang village of Rolpa during the second Constituent Assembly elections in November 2013.

While talking to The Himalayan Times, Chief District Officer of Rolpa Mitra Lal Sharma said few complaints from the district might be because people had no inkling that they were supposed to lodge their complaints.

“Many conflict victims, including those who were maimed in the course of insurgency, are yet to get the relief provided by the government,” Sharma argued. “We think they will report their cases gradually,” he added.

TRC, meanwhile, is likely to receive complaints form the victims of Bandarmude massacre of Chitwan. In other districts, it receives complaints through the District Peace Committees.

“Given the severity of the incident, we are considering to visit Bandarmude, Madi, and receive complaints from the victims,” TRC Chairman Gurung said.

Thirty-eight people were killed and 75 were injured when Maoists ambushed an overcrowded bus in Bandarmude of Madi, Chitwan, on June 6, 2005.

TRC and CIEDP will keep receiving complaints from the victims of human rights violations of Maoist insurgency until mid-June.