Suresh Kumar Oli, a goat herder from Pahruwa in ward 15 of Tulsipur Sub-Metropolitan City, Dang, was detained by security personnel on December 22, 2002, under the suspicion of being a Maoist rebel. He was 31 years old.

Suresh’s wife, Devisara Oli, recalls her husband being booked for questioning by the police on that fateful Sunday. “He never returned. I still wait for him after all these years,” said Devisara. Suresh has been missing for the past 21 years and his family has been waiting for answers to his disappearance.

“My husband was booked by the police for questioning. We don’t know what happened to him after the police took him in,” said Devisara. “My husband was not convicted of any crime, but he was still arrested during the armed conflict. I have reached out to all the authorities requesting them to find my husband or at least inform me about what happened to him. I no longer have faith in any of the authorities including the Commission of Investigation on Enforced Disappeared Persons and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.”

“Even the courts ordered the relevant authorities to find him, but there has been no progress,” she bemoaned.

Sima Chaudhary, a psychoanalyst who has been working with the families of armed conflict victims and survivors, states that several families have not been able to find peace and many people from such families deal with psychological problems.

During the conflict, a large number of civilians from Pahruwa suffered at the hands of the police, army and Maoist rebels. Eight farmers from the village have been missing since September 6, 2002.

According to Chandrakala Upreti, the central treasurer of the Conflict Victim Women National Network, the women whose husbands went missing during the conflict era faced hardships raising families in the absence of their primary breadwinners.

“You cannot imagine the pain of raising children without a husband. Most women were left with no financial and emotional support needed to raise children on their own,” said Upreti. “The Nepal government has failed these families despite making several commitments to help them find their missing family members.”

On November 21, 2006, the then CPN (Maoist) and then prime minister Girija Prasad Koirala signed the historic Comprehensive Peace Agreement. Through the deal, the government and the Maoist party also agreed to provide justice to all victims of the insurgency.

However, 17 years after the signing of the agreement, not a single victim has got justice.

“Apart from claiming to search for the disappeared people, the government has done nothing to help the victims’ families. Several such families are living difficult lives,” said Upreti. “Their children have been deprived of all opportunities.”

According to Indrajit Tharu, a member of parliament of Lumbini Province and former health minister, even if the government cannot provide justice to the victims’ families, it must compensate the families by providing their children free education and employment for members of hard-up families.

“These issues should be addressed at the policy-making level,” said Tharu.

Ishwari GM, a member of parliament from Rolpa, said that countless families in villages of Rukum and Rolpa districts have awaited justice for more than two decades. “The authorities have little to show for the progress made so far in terms of providing justice to the families of the disappeared,” said GM.

The Commission of Investigation on Enforced Disappeared Persons and Truth and Reconciliation Commission were formed after the conflict—which started on February 13, 1996, and ended on November 21, 2006—to investigate serious violations of human rights and crimes against humanity committed by the government and rebel Maoists and to build an atmosphere of reconciliation in society.

According to the Commission of Investigation on Enforced Disappeared Persons, there are 3,289 registered reports of missing people filed after the conflict, out of which 277 complaints were sent to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. A total of 135 individuals were removed from the list after their families were found to have filed double complaints, and 44 people were found and their names were also struck off the list. Similarly, the commission has approved 2,483 complaints for detailed investigation.

The commission also informed that the number of missing persons based on the complaints so far is 2,567. Similarly, 63,718 petitions were filed with the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, claiming that more than 325,000 people were victims of the armed conflict.

Twenty-seven years old Sandipa Oli still hopes to see her father, Om Bahadur Oli, who went missing on August 7, 2006. “Maoist rebels took my father and we never heard of him again. No one has come to us to alleviate our pain. Despite several complaints and reports filed at the commissions, there is no news of my father,” said Sandipa. “But as a daughter, I can’t give up hope of seeing him again.”