Charikot, September 15:

Parents and guardians of children warned at press conference organised here today that they would stage an agitation from Sunday if the Maoists didn’t provide information about the status of the children abducted by them. Hari Bahadur Dulal, father of a missing child Ganesh Bahadur Dulal, said that 19 children between 14 and 18 years of age, who had gone to the conference of Tham Mukti Morcha at Kshamawati in Dolakha district were taken away by the Maoists on August 27.

Of the 19 abducted children, three managed to escape from the Maoist captivity and returned after six days, said the guardians. The guardians demanded that they be given an opportunity to meet their children at least once. “If my son has joined the Maoists willingly I will have no complaint, but I want to make sure of that,” said Hari Bahadur. Mangal Thami, whose two sons Pushkar and Narayan have been missing, said that his wife is distraught with grief.

Meanwhile, Yadav Dahal at the Maoist contact office in Charikot said the guardians had approached him with their problem. “We will hold an investigation. And, if the Maoists have forcibly taken the children away, they will be returned,” Yadav Dahal further said.