Bandarmude blast victims still waiting for justice, compensation

CHITWAN, June 6: It´s been four years and locals at Bandarmude in Madi in Chitwan district are gathering once again Saturday to remember the dead – all 39 of them. These people – 36 civilians and 3 soldiers traveling in a bus – died in a mine blast triggered by Maoists on June 6 in 2005. The dead included children as well. [break]

Orphans and other victims who lost their kin are remembering their dear and near ones at a function organized at the incident site where a pillar has been built in memory of the lost ones.

Despite triple tragedy Situ on compensation quest

More than 100 people were traveling in the bus when the then rebel Maoists ambushed the overcrowded bus using electronic devices. Seventy-three other persons were injured in the horrifying attack. The ambush was planted at Bandarmude in Madi area of Chitwan, home district of Maoist Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal, other senior Maoist leaders Ram Bahadur Thapa and Amik Sherchan.

"The wounds of the incident are still not healed due to Maoists’ apathy," said one of the victims Krishna Adhikari, who is also a member of Bandarmude Incident Victims Struggle Committee.

This heinous mass murder was criticized heavily, with some human rights organizations terming it “crime against humanity”. Nepal-based human rights bodies had said the mass murder justified the terrorist tag that the government slapped on the then Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist).

Maoist Chairman Dahal himself frequently described the blast as the most horrifying incident occurred during the insurgency. He promised to visit the place, console the victims and offer a relief package but he has never been there so far.

The Maoists have not yet apologized for the crime, neither have they made public what punishment they meted out to those who saw the bus and detonated the electronic mine.

"They did nothing but further betrayed the sufferers," Adhikari said.

The victims say the Maoists have not visited the blast site after a difference arose over the construction of the pillar and what was to be written on it to remember the dead.

"In memory of those who lost their lives in a heinous blast committed by CPN (Maoist) party, which was declared a terrorist-party by the then government," reads the pillar. The Maoists had objected to the language and words used in the sentence.

The victims argued that the words written and the facts given in the pillar are well-known by the whole world. Everyone knows it is a fact and there is no point to discriminate to us just on that ground, said a victim.