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Navaraj Adhikari, priest
Don’t cry sister. Console yourself. We are born to bear everything in life.
Oh, god, if only they could have seen the dead body. Not that it would console parents.
You should think of god.
We make an effigy of kush grass to represent the physical body of the deceased. We would make it here but we thought it would be unbearable for the mother. So we will do everything there.
May Rudralal’s soul rest in eternal peace.
We should go now.
Think of Lord Vishnu, Lord Krishna and pray that your son will go to heaven.
When someone dies from an unnatural death from assault, fire or drowning and the body is not found, we cremeate an effigy of kush grass which represents the corpse. We then throw the ash in the river. That date is considered the death anniversary.
Pray that the holy fire burns the body easily and carries it to heaven.
The head has to point to the north. Turn this cloth over, and now believe that this is the face.
Let us all join our hands in prayer.
His name was Rudralal but we called him Raju. We don’t know if anyeone enticed him or what. All we knew is a contractor took him to Kalikot to work. His family and friends were all waiting for his return. But instead came news that he had been killed as a Maoist.
Narration
On the 28th of November 2001, Raj Kumar Shrestha, or Raju, as he was known, left his home in the village of Jogimara in Dhading district, just west of Kathmandu. He was one of twenty men from his village to go to work on Kalikot’s Kotwada airport in western Nepal.
Bel Bahadur BK
We knew the contractor. We had worked for him before. He used to pay us more than the other contractors. He was a good person to work for. That is why we all agreed to go with him.
We first went to Surkhet. The next day, we went to Dungeshwor. Then, Ramaghat. It took us seven days to reach Kalikot. We arrived on 4th December and began work on the 5th.
It was a really remote area. Barren and steep. In the mornings, the pond would freeze over like glasses. My skin was totally lacerated and healed only after I came back here.
We could not speak properly for 15 days because of our chapped lips. We could not even open our mouth to eat. What a place it was. At such a height.
I would never go back to such a place.
Narration
Since Kalikot was a Maoist-affected area and because the army had been mobilised to combat the Maoists, they were concerned about being caught in the crossfire.
Bel Bahadur BK
On 3rd January, a helicopter fired five shots at us. This guy called Man Bahadur Bista was struck by something. It was probably a stone splinter that hit him. He cried out it was a bullet. But we told him it was only a splinter from a rock struck by a bullet.
Any way something hit him.
After that incident, I started thinking that it was going to be difficult to survive there. They were firing at us from the sky. I decided that my life was dearer than the money. That is why I came back home.
Bel Bahadur Shrestha, Raju's father
One Bishwokarma, one Magar and our son’s brother-in-law were the three who came back.
When I asked my son’s brother-in-law why the others had not come back as well, they said they were not allowed to leave. My son was the head mason, so he was told he couldn't leave until the work was complete. Since my son stayed back, others who were his helpers also could not leave.
Radio Nepal's news, 19 February 2002
This is Radio Nepal.
The news read by Gopal Basnet.
Last night armed Maoist terrorists launched an attack on security forces on Mangalsen, the district headquarters of Achham in Seti Zone. In the attack, 102 people are reported dead: 48 soldiers, 49 policemen as well as the Chief District Officer, an official of the National Intelligence Department and his wife, a postal worker and a local inhabitant.
The Ministry of Defence has issued a statement that reinforcements have already been despatched and the area has been cordoned off for a massive search operation.
Narration
Responding to the biggest government setback so far, the army became active in search operations in the neighbouring district of Kalikot as well. When an army helicopter on patrol reached the airport construction site in Kalikot, some Maoists who had mingled with the labourers fired a few shots at the helicopter before heading off. After that incident, the contractor ordered the local labourers to stop coming to work. But because it was not possible to leave the place at that time due to army operations, the contractor as well as the labourers from Jogimara and other places were forced to stay put.
Narration
A few days later, soldiers arrived at the construction site, and began shooting at those living there. A total of 35 people were killed. Among the dead were the 17 labourers from Jogimara, workers from other parts of Nepal, the contractor, two children and some locals.
Radio Nepal news, 25th February 2002
According to the Ministry of Defence, security forces have launched a massive search for Maoist terrorists who have escaped into the jungle after attacking Managlsen in Achham. In various encounters between the security forces and armed terrorists in the neighbouring district of Kalikot the day before yesterday a large number of terroriest were killed according to the Defence Ministry. In the lastest security operations, 76 terrorists were killed. And various kind of weapons and explosives devices were recovered.
Bel Bahadur BK
I, too have worked there. The government has said they could have been Maoists. They may have joined the Maoists and got killed. But government's claim is wihtout babis. We were workers there. You can see our condition here. It was to make ends meet that we went to work elsewhere. Had we any money, we would have stayed at home. People studying in the eighth grade and even in the 2nd or 3rd grade left home to make some money. Everyone died. What can we do now?
One of them was married to the daughter of my own uncle who lives there.
Gyan Bahadur Bishwokarma, Sanu's and Tek Bahadur's father
Two of my sons were killed. Go and get the citizenship certificate. I want to show my son’s photograph.
What day did the incident occur? Which month? People say it was on 23 February. I was told that it was mentioned on the radio. We don't have a radio at home. Our neighbour heard it on the radio in the evening of 13th March. I was told such an incident had happened. The next day I was told the morning news at 7 the next day had said the same thing. When I heard that an MP from Kalikot had said 17 workers from Jogimara were among those killed, I started fearing for my sons' safety because they too were in the same place. Had they been killed by mistake? When I went to where a radio was, the 7 o’clock news was already over. We couldn’t understand the English news at 8. I cannot even read Nepali, let alone English. Then thinking there might be more information available at the bazaar, we all hurried there.
We did not all arrive at the same time. My elder brother and I got there first. I have a sister there, a blood sister. Even before we arrived there, she had already sent someone to the next town to call up the contactor or our MP. But this person came back, saying there was no answer. We stayed there for three days trying to get some information. We tried phoning here and there, but to no avail.
I would go down the bazaar the day after. I was hoping someone would be able to help me. Help me find a way out. Perhaps get my sons back. What can I do when I could not even get the body of a Nepali who died in Nepal itself? I cried and begged but there was no one to help me.
There were no dead bodies that we could see or touch. I performed my sons’ funeral rites just in the belief that they were dead. My elder daughter-in-law went to her parents the day after the ceremony. The next day second one also left.
Bel Bahadur BK
Two of their sons died there. Now, a total of five members of their family have left home. What else could they do? With the sons dead, their wives left. What else could they do? One daughter-in-law went to her own parents’ place. My own younger sister (and a child) has come here.
Gyan Bahadur BK
Who else is there in the family, sir? I have these three daughters and an 11-year-old son left.
My happy days are over now. Out of eleven people, there are only six of us here now.
Buddhisara BK, Sanu and Tek Bahadur's mother
It hurts. Even one wound hurts so much. I have two wounds. Two had died, but in reality it is five. It feels like the door of my life has been shut.
Bel Bahadur BK
Everyone feels the same loss when they lose their sons. My sister's family and one from Goirang have lost two sons each.
Motimaya Gurung, Gokarna and Tek Bahadur's mother
I did ask them to stay back saying we would not be able to plant the potatoes of our own. But didn't listen and bundled their clothes and left. We could not hold physically. We did not even know the foreman!
Shanka Bahadur Gurung, Gokarna and Tek Bahadur's father
We heard only bad things. There was no good news. We just can’t bear it. We had sent our young and fit sons. All to work as labourers. Now they say their bodies are lying there charred.
Moti Maya
The contractor should have broght them back all right.
Shankha Bahadur Gurung
I am finding it difficult to endure one worry after another. There is sorrow…a lot of sorrow.
Moti Maya Gurung
Tears well up when I speak. And if I keep quiet without saying anything…
Bel Bahadur Bk
Some had only one son. One of them lives near the water mill. She had only one son. Now she is planning to sell the land. I’d gone there some time back. She says she will sell her land. She doesn’t want to live here.
Dhan Maya Praja, Budha Raj's mother
It’s not just one or two; it’s the whole village. No one has returned so far. The rites have already been done for some of them.
Narration
Dhan Maya’s niece, who is also Rajkumar’s wife, is among those who have completed the funeral rites. She had to undergo more than one tragedy. Not long after news of her husband’s death, her grand father-in-law died. Then a day later, her month-old child also died. To come to terms with her loss, she has been alternating between her parents’ place and her own home.
Narration
The situation is not much better at her parental house. Her own brother, Manju Thapa, and two cousins were also killed in Kalikot.
Gita Shrestha, Raju's wife
A photograph of my dead brother used to be there. My other brother could not bear to look at it. He would look at the picture and lament how could such a brother die and and start crying. That is why he has hidden it.
Narration
Geeta’s uncle and his wife live two hours’ away from Geeta’s house. Their 16-year-old son, Bhim Bahadur Thapa, was among those killed in Kalikot.
Amar Bahadur Thapa, Bhim Bahadur's father
The others had worked before. When my son said he wanted to join them, I tried to stop him. But he argued that all his friends and cousins going. I tried to stop him till the very end.
Dhan Maya Thapa Magar, Bhim Bahadur's mother
What's the use of looking at his picture? It just makes me cry.
Gyanu Maya Thapa, Bhim Bahadur's aunt
He looks like he will spring to life right now. He looks exactly like he did before.My heart aches when I look at his photo. It's been a long time since I looked at it. What is the use of looking at his photo? We can't speak to him or hear his voice.
Narration
Another of Gita’s uncles, Indra Bahadur, lost his 15-year-old son, Gyan Bahadur, in the Kalikot incident.
Indra Bahadur Thapa, Gyan Bahadur's father
He did not say where he was going. He merely said that he was going to be work as a labourer. In a fairly distant place. But the job was going to pay well. I gave him my permission. Told him not to quarrel with him.I told him to be careful,he might fall down and hurt himself .As it turned out, something even worse happened.
Narration
For Indra Bahadur, the sorrow over losing his third son is greater than when the death of his other sons in infancy.
Indra Bahadur
I had a total of eight children—four girls and four boys. One son died when he was ten months old. My second boy died at age three. The one I’ve lost now is the third. He was 15. He would have become sixteen soon.
Narration
Like Indra Bahadur, Man Bahadur, too lost his son. For these two neighbours and others like them the loss is greater since their sons were their only support for their old age.
Man Bahadur BK, Raj Kumar's father
I pleaded with him not to leave. I asked him to think of us, his parents. He had just grown up, and I was hoping he would help me with my work. I told him there was enough at home to feed him. But he went off without even speaking to me or his mother. He did not even eat at home. He just got carried away by what his friends said.
We did not tell him we were having a hard time. That he should work and earn some money. He did not even consult us.
Buddhimaya BK, Raj Kumar's mother
I am in utter torment. From where will my son come back from?
Narration
Until the 27th of November, the master of this house, Chitra Bahadur Praja, used to live here. The next day, he went along with his fellow villagers to work on the Kalikot airport.
Govinda Bahadur Praja, Chitra Bahadur's son
We had taken loans to celebrate Dasain. The creditors had started knocking on our door. We have no cattle, no goats, or chickens to sell. We have no source of income. We make a living working as labourers. This has been the case for generations. We work as labourers. We never have enough to feed ourselves more than six months a year. When my father talked about going away in order to pay the loans, I had begged him not to go, saying that we could borrow some more.
We have always paid back our loans. He left without saying a word. What alternative was there? This is a backward area. I tried to convince my father perhaps some work will be available nearby. But he was finding it extremely difficult to survive under the burden of his debts, and so my 60-year-old father went off. He left behind young children who were almost dying. Hounded by creditors. He believed that it was his duty to repay his debts. He left home under such conditions.
Narration
Govinda does not live in his father’s house. That is his why the responsibility of looking after these five children falls solely on the shoulders of the 40-year-old widow, Sukmaya Praja.
Narration
Jogimara is now a village of widows and orphans. The incident in Kalikot has deprived eighteen children of their fathers. Ten women have been widowed, and some of them are still minors.
Kaman Maya Praja, Kumle's wife
I know nothing. They say he is dead.
Narration
The fate of Mankumari Praja, the widow of Dilla Praja, is no less tragic. She had been hoping that her husband’s earnings would pay for the repair of their hut that had burnt down the year before.
Man Kumari Praja, Dilla's wife
My name? My name…I’ve forgotten. What should I say?…Mankumari.
There is nothing to eat at home; he said. 'Look after the children'. ‘I will make some money and come back for the sowing.’ But he has not returned. What should I do now? Look at my home, my children. He has not returned. There is no one to plant the fields. This is my own sister. That is my husband’s younger brother. I have come to live with them. These three are my children. How am I going to raise them? I have no land. You have seen how much land I have and the condition of my house. What am I to do now?
Narration
Jogimara is suffering the loss of its youth. Amongst those killed in Kalikot, nine were under the age of 21. It has been four months since they died but their memory still haunts their peers.
Bel Bahadur BK
I am on the verge of going mad. There are only two young men left in this village. I and my cousin. We had all grown up together. They’re all dead.
Narration
To conceal a dead body is considered a crime deadlier than murder by Nepali society. That is because absence of proof of someone’s death makes it very difficult for those left behind, adding to their angst and suffering.
Beli Maya Praja, Ram Bahadur's wife
I still think he will come back. He was alright when he left home.
Govinda Praja
Perhaps he is taking shelter somewhere. He could be looking for a way to come back. He could be working somewhere else.
Bel Bahadur BK
Part of me tells me they are dead.
The funeral rites have been done only on hearsay. They may be working or they could be dead.We are confused.
Indra bahadur
We haven't given up hope. Even though the funeral rites are over, I have hope that he'll be back. If he does come back, we will keep him outdoors until we perform other rites to undo what we have done. That's what I hope for.
Moti Maya Gurung
I have a feeling they'll come back. But that hasn’t happened. We planted the fields without them and the crop is now ripe. They're still not back. My heart cries. Where have my sons gone?
Man Bahadur BK
Do I think of my son?
Me?
It's not that he was taken ill or anything. I keep thinking he will come back just the way that he left. My heart aches all the time.
Buddhi Maya BK
What happened to my son? How did he die? What happened? Sometimes I am overcome by wistfulness that he'll be back. But I suppose that will not happen. Where can I find someone who can bring my son back to me? I just wish he would come back just the way he had left. I know it is impossible. I've brought myself to this state.
Indra Bahadur Thapa
He'd gone that way, and I keep hoping he will come back the same way. He might yet come back. He'd left carrying a bag. He'd told us what we were to plant and which animals to rear. He'd told us he'd bring back money but we were not to borrow much.
Narration
Because of such lingering hope, many have not even performed the funeral rites of their loved ones.
Shankha Bahadur Gurung
My eldest son is mentally unstable. He is a deaf-mute. Perhaps he is possessed by spirits. I have heard some of the others have performed the funeral rituals. We wonder if we should also do the same. But we have not done it yet. We are still not sure they are dead. They could be in some remote place. My sons are not blind. Nor are they lame. They could be hiding somewhere and are safe. We parents hope that as well. Or perhaps they were slaughtered. It happened so far away.
Beli Maya Praja
We still think he will be back. We will not conduct the funeral for four or five years more.
Narration
The grief and anger of losing their near and dear ones for no reason manifested first in sorrow. With time, this sorrow is turning into a cry of the wounded.
Buddhi Maya BK
Why did the government kill them? Couldn't they see how poor they were? The government should have seen that they were just workers.
Gyan Bahadur BK
If we'd got the bodies, we would have consoled ourselves. We should have got the bodies at least. Cremate them or bury them, I would have decided. Maybe their bodies were just thrown away and now only the skeletons remain. Who knows? Why did the government do this? The work was for a government airport. Why couldn’t the government distinguish between the innocent workers and the guilty others?
Dambar Bahadur Thapa, Manju Kumar's father
They were all good boys. They killed the innocent this time.
Gyan Bahadur BK
Didn't they kill poor and innocent people? Who is going to look into this injustice?
End note:
After news of the killing of 35 innocents from Jogimara and elsewhere created a furore in the parliament in March 2002, the government set up a Special Committe under the Prime Minister's office to investigate such incidents.
The families of the victims from Jogimara handed a petition to the convenor of the committes through their own MP and the one from Kalikot in April 2002.
In July 2002, the member-secretary of the commmitte denied his office had received notice of any such case.
In the memory of the Jogimara dead.
Chitra Bahadur Praja
Buddha Raj Praja
Kumle Praja
Sher Bahadur Praja
Dilla Praja
Ram Bahadur Praja
Bikas Praja
Kanchha Praja
Gokarna gurung
Tek Bahadur Gurung
Manju Kumar Thapa
Bhim Bahadur Thapa
Gyan Bahadur Thapa
Raju (Raj Kumar) Shrestha
Raj Kumar Biswokarma
Tek Bahadur Biswokarma
Sanu Biswokarma
acknowledgements
The families of the victims
and villagers from Jogimara
Tanks Bahadur Malla
(Jogimara village committee chairman)
and
International Media Support
archive visuals
Umid Bagchand
Nepal Forum of
Environmental Journalists
post-production
Nepal Forum of
Environmenta Journalists
sound
Kaji Thapa
camera
Dhurba Basnet
computer graphics
Sarun Tuladhar
music
Phanindra Rai
research
Bhup Raj Khadka
translation
Jyoti Thapa
narration
Deepak Thapa
production/direction
Mohan Mainali
© Centre for Investigative Journalism
Himal Associoation 2002 |
