No silver lining to conflict victims' de

KHALANGA ( PYUTHAN): The Maoists' ascendancy to power might veritably be a reward for waging a war against feudal elements, but there seems to be no silver living to the deepest despair that beleaguers conflict victims.

For Mohan Giri, chief of Sworgadwari Multiple Campus, life has become one protracted punishment. On October 2002, the Maoists had detained Giri for 63 days following abduction while the RNA murdered his daughter, Kalpana, on February 6, 2005. While the events are etched fresh in his memory, he is bereft of hope. “The government may offer monetary compensation, but will that compensate the loss of my daughter?” he asked.

Another conflict victim, Ruman Singh Nepali, has a similar story to tell. A mason by profession, Nepali had his hands maimed during detention in the army camp in 2003. He is unemployed since then. “I am even unable to manage two square of meal a day,” he said, adding, “ The government does not seem moved by our misery,” he lamented.

The misery of victims, who were displaced during the conflict, is no less heart-rending. Putala Machhi, a resident of Narikot, who has been living in the district headquarters Khalanga, was forced to leave her house in Dhand. She said, “Those who forced me out of my home are now in power, but they seem to have turned a deaf ear to our requests to return seized properties. We have been forced to live like refugees in our own country.”

Another conflict victim Dil Bahadur Pun Magar, who was displaced from Rolpa and living in Pyuthan's Bagdula said, “The Maoists forcibly evicted me out of my own house. I have lost all hopes of getting my property back.”