KATHMANDU, Feb 14: The government is currently headed by Pushpa Kamal Dahal, chairman of the CPN (Maoist Center). As the executive head of the state for the third time, he had been saying that no one will stop us from observing the 'People's War Day'. Addressing the party's central committee meeting on Monday, the eve of the People’s War Day, he instructed the leaders and workers to celebrate the day across the country.
However, the Supreme Court recently decided that it is not appropriate to celebrate the People's War Day as the peace process has not yet concluded.
“We respect the court's decision until the rest of the peace process is completed. But no one can stop our right to celebrate the People's War Day,” said Dahal.
The Maoists have been celebrating this day on the first of Falgun (February 13 this year) to mark the beginning of the armed conflict in 1996. Last year, taking advantage of the political situation of the country, Dahal announced a public holiday on the first of Falgun.
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Accordingly, the government included a public holiday in its annual calendar in the name of the People’s War Day. But after the Supreme Court overturned it, one day of public holiday has been deducted. But the statistical confusion about the number of people killed during the armed conflict remains as it is.
Dahal, who was the 'supreme commander' of the Maoist rebels, is often accused of killing 17,000 people during the decade-long armed conflict. He has neither openly admitted to it nor denied it. But the Dahal-led government never released the exact data yet.
After the success of the 2006 mass movement, the general elections were held in 2008, 2013, 2017 and 2022. The results of those elections, and backed by the armed conflict, made Dahal the prime minister for the third time. Another Maoist leader Dr Baburam Bhattarai, who was the second-in-command to Dahal during the armed conflict, also became the prime minister.
In the last 16 years, Maoist remained out of the government only for a short period of time.
But the exact figures of the number of people who died during the civil war were never made public. However, the government has now prepared the data to ascertain the number of people killed in the armed conflict. This work was done in collaboration between the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) and the Ministry of Home Affairs (MoFA) according to which 18,076 civilians were killed in the conflict. Similarly, the number of missing people is 1,730.
Data show that 16,646 were injured or disabled people. Likewise, the number of people injured in the people’s war stands at 30. According to the information given by the highly-placed sources of the PMO, the government had formed a committee to collect the data of those who were killed and injured in the armed conflict. The new number has now been determined based on the report submitted by the committee. “The details have not yet been made public but the PMO has already sent the details to MoFA,” said the source.
Dahal, who has become the prime minister for the third time, is still being accused of killing 17,000 people.
Last year, addressing a function organized at Tundikhel by the Tharu Community on January 15, 2023 to mark the Maghi Festival, Chairman Dahal complained that people wrongly accuse him of killing 17,000 people. “Many of my friends say this on public forums. But I want to correct the data,” he said. “Let me tell you what the fact is. A total of 12,000 people were killed by the feudal lords of yesteryears.”
Dahal said he was ready to take responsibility for the killings of only 5,000 people in the course of the armed insurgency launched by the Maoists. “If you hold me responsible for the death of 5,000 people I am ready for that. But it would be an injustice to place the responsibility for 12,000 dead also on my shoulders,” he further said.
Now the Maoist government has prepared new statistics of those killed in the conflict. According to the data to be made public soon, the question has arisen as to who will take responsibility of 1,076 more deaths?
