Feature: Nepal's civil war victims still not confident justice will be dealt 10 years after peace deal

Lal Singh Adhikari, 57, once served as a teacher at the state-run Shree Siddhartha Janata Secondary School in Magma Village Development Committee in the country's hilly Rukum district.

He used to teach all subjects at primary level including maths and English at the school located around 280 kilometers west of the capital city of Kathmandu.

But his life changed drastically in 1996 when the nation became embroiled in a bitter civil war waged by the CPN Maoist against the then Royal regime. The teacher was arrested by the security forces on suspicion of having connection with the Maoists, who were widely termed as"terrorists"then.

For 10 days, he was physically assaulted by the police and has been left with several scars still visible on his body.

On Sunday, a gloomy looking Adhikari was staring at a specific form provided by the local Peace Committee at the Musikot Khalanga, district headquarters.

"The civil war changed my life in such a way that I have lost all my trust in the government, political parties and leaders. I have no expectations of getting justice or compensation from the state. But still, I want to fill this form out and try my luck,"Adhikari told Xinhua, sounding slightly nervous, if not a bit distressed.

The 10-year-long armed conflict that started in 1996 ended in 2006 after the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Accord with the government led by the then Prime Minister, the late Girija Prasad Koirala.

The war not only killed 13,000 people, with thousands more still unaccounted for.

Many more were injured along with huge losses to public and private properties.

Though the government earlier provided relief to the victims of the conflict through the Ministry of Peace and Reformation, it has recently formed two independent transitional justice mechanisms, namely the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) and Commission of Investigation on Enforced Disappearances (CIED) to deal with the war-era cases related mostly to extrajudicial killings and disappearances.

The TRC has mobilized local peace committees to receive detailed complaints of the war-affected people to try to end the bitter chapter by resolving the cases.

As with Adhikari, a few victims have been gathering at the local peace committee every day for more than a month, to retell their distressing stories in order to get justice, 10 years after the end of the civil war.

Nabraj KC, 19, was another victim to receive the form on the same day in the name of his father, Khim Bahadur KC. He traveled a few hours from Jhula village to the district headquarters with a tiny hope of receiving some relief for his six-member family.

According to the teenager, his father was arrested for unreasonable reasons and held for a month, whereas his whole family was displaced for more than two years owing to the forced disturbance by the then revolutionary Maoist forces.

"I want to file a complaint for the loss of property. However, I don't think there will be a fair investigation into cases. Dossiers related to the war-era cases might have been erased or destroyed many times over the past 10 year period, so I am not confident at this time. But I came here for the sake of my father," KC told Xinhua.

Though the Rukum district, located in mid-western development region, was the the site of prolonged insurgency, only a few victims have come forward with their claims cases as the majority of them have a huge mistrust of the government and stakeholders.

Moreover, the authority concerned has failed to communicate effectively and encourage the victims to file complains for the reconciliation purpose.

Khadga Dangi, chairman of the peace committee in the district admitted,"We had expected to receive around 10,000 complains but we have failed to assure the people about the justice mechanism of the committee. As a result, very few have been submitting their cases."

Until last week, the committee office received only 510 complains out of which most of the cases are related to physical injury and loss of property.

The committee has asked locals formally and informally about submitting claims through public notices via four local radio stations and two weekly newspapers. However, it has failed to attract the real victims and the form's submission deadline expires in mid-June.

"One of the major problems is the complex form structure that is difficult to understand by ordinary people. In addition, it is now the season for agricultural production, so the villagers are more interested in their regular work rather than filling in forms,"Raju Lamichhane, Section Officer at the committee, informed Xinhua.

The form includes an introduction of the victim, the number of family members, the date and place of the incident, details of witnesses, additional documents, including previous reports and photos and such like.

The Rukum district, with a population of nearly 200,000, has 43 Village Development Committees. As per official statistics, 665 died alone in the district including 581 males and 84 females, whereas 564 lost their properties during the insurgency.

Many of these previous recorded victims have one thing in common, they believe their cases will be dismissed through political interference and that there will be no justice.

Dhan Singh Khadka, a 59-year-old farmer from Arma village, who was once kidnapped after filing a case against the then Maoist forces, told Xinhua,"I am getting old day-by-day and my eldest son who was forced to flee to India hasn't returned yet. I don't think my case will be ever be resolved under this political system. Endit