A Newari lady stood up as a representative of the security forces. Her father had served as a police officer and through sheer pride of uniform committed excesses. As a representative, she wanted to apologize to anyone whom the police had wronged. An elderly man stood in front of her. He confessed that in 1984 the police had arrested him and 13 others while they were conducting Bible studies in a Dandeldhura church. The police had asked bribe for their release. Failing to receive it, they initiated a court case lasting six years. The man forgave the lady standing in for the ‘security forces’. Both shook hands.
These two events, among many others, took place in Dhulikhel. The Association for Theological Education in Nepal (ATEN) and the United Mission to Nepal (UMN) had jointly organized the Forgiveness and Reconciliation Seminar (May 18-21).
The 10-year-long Maoist-initiated civil war had left 14,000 dead. Multiply that figure by 7/8 to get the approximate number of people whom the conflict has affected.
Divya Khanal of ATEN had been to Burundi in 2006 to witness firsthand the forgiveness and reconciliation taking place there. Roughly about one-fifth the size of Nepal, Burundi went through deeper tragedies than what our war-ravaged country has experienced. After World War II, Belgium took over the administration of Burundi, Rwanda and Congo – all former German colonies. In Burundian society, the Tutsis lorded over the Hutus working their fields. The Belgians abolished compulsory labor for the Hutus, who then attended school for the first time. By 1958, the Hutus educated themselves enough to join political parties with the Tutsis. Their aim was to overthrow Belgian rule. They succeeded. On July 1, 1962, Burundi became an independent kingdom under a Tutsi king, Mwabutsa IV.
Tensions between the Tutsis and Hutus induced the king to hold an election in 1965. A parliament with 23 Hutus, 10 Tutsis and 10 MPs from the People’s Party recommended a Hutu as the prime minister. Foolishly, the king appointed his own cousin and private secretary, a Tutsi, to the post (Nepotism there too!). This sparked a Hutu-Tutsi civil war, leading to the abolition of monarchy and the formation of a republic (1966). Then, 250,000 died. Even after Burundi became a republic, Tutsi-initiated genocide continued. In 1972, about 380,000 Hutus lost their lives, 180,000 more in 1988 and 200,000 Burundians of all races after 1993, leading to an approximate total dead of one million (1,010,000). The Tutsi government and the Hutu rebels signed the 2001 Peace Accord in Arusha, Tanzania and the 2002 Cease-fire Agreement in Dar es Salaam. These finally brought tranquility, though sporadic fighting still erupts.
Burundi claims an 85 percent Christian population. Nominal Roman Catholics and Protestant killed each other. Now, committed Burundian Christians advocating Christ’s nonviolence are bringing healing to the nation. The key has been Jesus’ prayer on the cross, ‘Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they do’. Jesus forgave unconditionally because those who nailed him to the cross didn’t ask his pardon. The Burundians learned to forgive the offenders similarly, either because the culprit is dead or, if alive, doesn’t see the need for repentance.
In 2006, Divya Khanal and some elderly UMN missionaries felt that they cannot wait for the Nepal government to start the overdue healing process. (It should have begun the Truth and Reconciliation Commission long ago.) The 10-year-long Maoist-initiated civil war had left 14,000 dead. Multiply that figure by 7/8 to get the approximate number of people whom the conflict has affected. One participant in Dhulikhel confessed that the Maoists had killed his brother but he had forgiven the killers whom he didn’t know. Others of the higher castes admitted that their ancestors had confiscated land belonging to Janajatis by cooking up fake documents. Hurts, grievances, longing for revenge abounded. Towards the end of the seminar, representatives from the oppressed groups forgave their counterparts from the oppressors. Healing had begun.
As in Burundi, Nepali emotional scars have a historical background. A facilitator outlined the history of hurts from Prithivi Narayan Shah to Prachanda (Maoists) to political parties. The people of Kirtipur haven’t forgotten that Shah had his soldiers cut the lips and noses of their unfortunate ancestors (As with the Hitler-initiated holocaust, some argue this never happened). No surprise then that Kirtipur spearheaded the anti-Gyanendra protests in early 2006; and no Shah king ever visited that town. Father Ludwig F. Stiller in his book The Rise of the House of Gorkha claims that Prithivi Narayan needed to give land as jaagir (property bringing money) to his soldiers. Which land? That belonging to the Tarai dwellers. Shah’s officers became absentee landlords having income from fields they hardly visited. Thus, our Madhesi friends rightly claim that their oppression goes back to 240 years.
Prithivi Narayan rewarded the Limbus for their valor by giving them community-meadows called kipat. The Bhimsen Thapa administration took back the kipat land to finance Rana Bahadur Shah’s four year stay in Banaras. Any surprise then that the Limbus now are demanding their own Limbuwan state in the east? They don’t trust the Kathmandu administration. Girwan Yuddha’s government banned the slaughter of cows, thus forcing a strange practice on the reluctant Janajatis, who had to keep alive unproductive animals in the name of religion.
All UMN facilitators who taught at the Dhulikhel seminar had experiences of conflict resolution from Northern Ireland. One elderly male missionary, with long teaching experiences in UMN-run mission schools, stressed that wearing smiling masks while hiding bitter hurts can result in clogged-up pressure cooker type of explosions. Such existence can become a living death. Another emphasized that no one can obey the advice “forgive and forget”. Forgetting is impossible. Rather we should remember and repent. The UMN lady teacher spoke on trauma and the importance of listening.
Should the Nepal government encourage ATEN and UMN (the Christian community) in multiplying such forgiveness and reconciliation seminars, many more could benefit. Countless hurting participants could then learn to forgive and live.
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