Jhulaghat (Baitadi), May 2:

Many Nepalis in the far-western region of the country who had come to the country on leave or even by quitting their earlier jobs in India have started returning to their work.

Shankhlal BK of Daulichaut VDC in Bajhang and a horde of youths today reached Jhulaghat checkpoint in Baitadi to go to India. BK said he hoped that sustainable peace would prevail in the country and added that he was off to Kala Pahad in India for work. “We have done our duty, and it is now up to those who have been elected to the Constituent Assembly to frame a right constitution,” he added.

Many Nepalis wending towards Uttaranchal state of India hoped that they would not have to hear bad news like shattering of the peace process or violence spiraling any more in Nepal. “If peace doesn’t prevail, we won’t be able to return home,” said another man who was ready to cross the checkpoint to go to India for work.

Dhan Bahadur Bohora of Bithang in Bajhang said the Maoists had got the people’s mandate to restore peace in the country. He has not yet forgotten the stigma that he had to face during the conflict period while he was in India. “The administration and locals in India dubbed me as a Maoist,” he recalls.

Bohora added that if peace prevailed in Nepal, people would not go to India or other countries in search for work.

Birkhe BK of Daulichaut VDC of Bajhang said, “Those days, nearly every Nepali was regarded as a Maoist by the Indian people and the administration.”

Many Nepalis serving in the Indian Army had also returned to vote in the CA polls. Indian Army

soldier Devendra Bista of Dashrathchand municipality in Bajhang said, “The chance to vote in the Constituent Assembly election comes once in a life.”

Bista said he took a month’s leave for the polls and added, “Now, the responsibility of framing a pro-people and pro-country statute rests on the shoulders of those elected.”

Many of these Indian Army personnel hail from Baitadi, Darchula, Dadeldhura, Achham, Bajhang and Bajura districts and are posted in mainly Assam Rifles, Gorkha Regiment and Kumaon Regiment. Incidentally, most of the daily wage earners going back to India also belong to these districts.

The Jhulaghat border police post personnel said on an average 400 to 500 outward-bound Nepalis have been passing through the checkpoint daily ever since the results of the CA polls were announced.