Free The Children
EVERY day, Chiliya Chaudhary of Rajpur Village Development Committee of Dang district, as
per a news item carried by this daily the other day, sits by the banks of the Rapti River
in the hope of espying her two teenage sons returning home. Her waiting ordeal started
ever since her two sons left with four unidentified strangers five months ago. As per the
same news, her two sons were enticed by the strangers to go away with them after the
latter offered them jobs. Chiliya, to ascertain the whereabouts of her two sons, has been
running from pillar to post. Not only that, she has even checked with the police as to the
exact location of her two sons. But alas, to no avail. What is more excruciating to know
is that along with Chiliya Chaudhary, many parents of six other VDCs of Dang district are
also reported to be waiting anxiously for their children to return home. With Bada Dasain
and Tihar, two major festivals of the vast majority of the Nepalese, just round the
corner, it is but natural for parents like Chiliya to be anxious about their children who
have left home for quite a long time. But what is definitely unnatural is for the children
to maintain a deafening silence as to their actual situation and whereabouts. For, come
Bada Dasain and Tihar, children, wherever they may be, are just as anxious as their
parents to celebrate these two festivals with their family members. In fact, so strong is
this desire in both parents and children to mark these two festivals together that both
would willingly go through any ordeal just be home in time to celebrate these two
festivals. The yearly exodus of thousands of people, including children, from Kathmandu
during Bada Dasain and Tihar is a case in point.
As such, while praying to the Almighty for a
speedy reunion between parents like Chiliya and their still untraceable children, going by
the unstable situation brought about by the Maoist-induced violence in Dang, then the
possibility of parents like Chiliya having to, god forbid, hope against hope for the
return of their children cannot be ruled out. For, the Maoists are known to coerce, if not
kidnap, innocent children to fight for their lost cause and untenable objectives. And, in
the process, reducing innocent children into cannon fodder. Since dragooning children to
become child-soldiers is universally condemned as a despicable and heinous crime against
humanity, the Maoists must let Chiliya and other parents' children go home.
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