Her younger son Ramesh disappeared in 2003 in the course of the conflict. For the past six years, she has wandered from village to village and town to town looking for him. “Someone must have seen him,” says the mother showing the picture of her son. [break]
People find her plight infectious. “Whoever she meets, she produces an old picture of her son, asks about him, and starts weeping,” says Mahesh Bhandari of Nijgadh.
Magar says Maoists forcibly took her son, who used to work as a painter at Nijgadh bazaar, during the conflict saying they needed someone to paint their slogans. “He didn’t want to go. They forced him,” she says. “I heard that a few months after that, he was taken by the army. But neither army personnel nor Maoists say anything about him.”
Magar’s husband died the year their son was taken by the Maoists. She says he died from shock. A year later, Ramesh’s elder brother died after being attacked by a wild elephant.
”His father died after losing hope of finding him. But I still believe that my son will return,” Magar says.
It is easier to deal with the death of a loved one that disappearance, according to Magar.
“Whatever his status, I would be glad to know,” she says. “This suspense about his status is killing me.”
Knowing the status of her son is Magar’s last wish.
Magar is not alone in facing this plight. According to Roshan Aryal of Insec Bara, status of members of six families in Bara disappeared during the conflict is still unknown. In total, there are about 1,000 such cases across the country.
On April 2, the Supreme Court ordered the government to make public the status of those disappeared during the conflict. But the government is yet to act on that order.
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