Displaced feel they've nowhere to go
HIMALAYAN NEWS SERVICE ITAHARI: Life turned upside down for 58 families of Haripur-1, Sunsari, when Madhesi Mukti Tigers (MMT), an underground armed outfit, threatened them to leave the area four years ago.
The MMT cadres had given a 10-day ultimatum to the families to release seven locals they had kidnapped in October 2007. Before that, they had killed Hanahang Limbu of Taplejung, Tek Bahadur Kunwar of Dhankuta and Patekwa Sherpa of Taplejung one after the other.
“From the owner of 16 bighas of land, I became a landless person overnight.
My tears have now dried up and pain has been a way of life,” lamented Sukul Bahadur Limbu (68), who had bought the land just four years before he was displaced.
Til Maya Limbu (63), another displaced woman among 18 families living in shanties on the bank of Sunsari-Morang Irrigation Project canal in Bharoul-3, Bange shared they had been working for others for subsistence.
Other families have been living in the area near Chatara. Recalling the atrocities of the MMT cadres, Til Maya said, “How can we forget how we spent the nights with our children outside the house? They will simply kill us if we go back.”
But even after four years, they still see their children suffer in the cold huts with no food and clothes in the winter.
According to Bal Bahadur Rai, chairman of MMT-Victims’ Struggle Committee, they got nothing except promises even after requesting their lawmaker Bhim Acharya and knocking the doors of District Administration Office and the Peace and Reconstruction Ministry for help.
“How long can we live on the bank of this canal and struggle for food?” Rai asked in utter frustration.
Another displaced Narayan Limbu accused the government of treating them as non-citizens. “How can we live this way when we neither have land nor any source of income?” he asked.
The MMT cadres had given a 10-day ultimatum to the families to release seven locals they had kidnapped in October 2007. Before that, they had killed Hanahang Limbu of Taplejung, Tek Bahadur Kunwar of Dhankuta and Patekwa Sherpa of Taplejung one after the other.
“From the owner of 16 bighas of land, I became a landless person overnight.
My tears have now dried up and pain has been a way of life,” lamented Sukul Bahadur Limbu (68), who had bought the land just four years before he was displaced.
Til Maya Limbu (63), another displaced woman among 18 families living in shanties on the bank of Sunsari-Morang Irrigation Project canal in Bharoul-3, Bange shared they had been working for others for subsistence.
Other families have been living in the area near Chatara. Recalling the atrocities of the MMT cadres, Til Maya said, “How can we forget how we spent the nights with our children outside the house? They will simply kill us if we go back.”
But even after four years, they still see their children suffer in the cold huts with no food and clothes in the winter.
According to Bal Bahadur Rai, chairman of MMT-Victims’ Struggle Committee, they got nothing except promises even after requesting their lawmaker Bhim Acharya and knocking the doors of District Administration Office and the Peace and Reconstruction Ministry for help.
“How long can we live on the bank of this canal and struggle for food?” Rai asked in utter frustration.
Another displaced Narayan Limbu accused the government of treating them as non-citizens. “How can we live this way when we neither have land nor any source of income?” he asked.
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