Enraged by one after another mysterious death of Kamlari girls, especially by the recent most death of Srijana Chaudhary in Chakupat of Lalitpur, nearly 70 former Kamlaris (indentured girl laborers) flocked to Kathmandu and staged peaceful sit-ins until they were brutally thrashed by the police in front of Singha Durbar. [break]
After 10 former Kamalari girls were injured -- five of them seriously -- in the police´s baton-charging, the government finally called them for talks, which unfortunately yielded no results until Thursday.
“The government appears positive about almost all our demands,” said Santosh Dahit, assistant secretary of a joint struggle committee for abolition of Kamlari tradition. “But, it is not ready to arrest and interrogate the accused (in Srijana´s case).”
Former Kamlaris say they will not call off their strike until the accused are arrested and a high-level committee is formed to probe Srijana´s death. Although it looks like former Kamlaris are fighting only for justice for Srijana´s family, their key demand is something else. They want complete emancipation of all Kamlari girls.
“Complete emancipation would be achieved only when all Kamlaris can live independent lives,” says former lawmaker Shanta Chaudhary, who was working as a Kamlari until seven years ago. According to Chaudhary, around 600 girls belonging to the Tharu community are still working as Kamlaris. “They need to be rescued and rehabilitated,” says she.
Fighting elite´s attitude, too
When members of the struggle committee met the Interim Election Council´s Chairman Khil Raj Regmi a couple of weeks ago, he said something that shocked all former Kamlari girls.
To Urmila Chaudhary, assistant coordinator of the struggle committee, what Regmi told them was downright repulsive. “He tried to justify Kamlari tradition by saying that some Kamlaris have received better life and education in their owners´ houses,” says she.
Urmila, who is now receiving treatment at Norvic Hospital after being thrashed by the police in front of Singha Durbar on June 2, says, “Our point is: if some Kamlaris have received better life and education in their owners´ houses, how many of them have become doctors, engineers or government officers?”
What Regmi told former Kamlaris lays bare the mindset of most of the educated, well-off and influential people. And, herein lies one of the main root causes of Kamlari tradition, which continues to exist despite the abolition of Kamaiya tradition by the government a decade ago.
In addition to the government´s decree about abolition of the Kamaiya tradition, the Convention of the Rights of the Child (CRC), to which Nepal is a party, is also against the Kamlari tradition. However, instead of working in tune with the spirit of CRC and the government´s own declaration of emancipation of the Kamaiya tradition, a majority of government officials take pride in the fact that some people provide relatively better life and education to Kamlari girls.
“This very attitude contributes to keeping Kamlari tradition alive,” says Urmila. “Most of the people from the elite class do not consider Kamlari tradition as a social ill. Some of them think it does not exist any longer. They believe that Kamlari tradition has been done away with after the declaration of emancipation of Kamaiyas.”
As they fought for justice in Kathmandu this time, former Kamlaris also fought the attitude of the elite class, which viewed their issues as “blown out of proportion” by the NGOs. “We are not in Kathmandu only to exert pressure on the government to probe the mysterious deaths of Kamlari girls,” says former lawmaker Chaudhary. “We want to change the elite´s mindset, too. We want to earn their respect, too.”
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