Peace minister assures govt will soon clarify fate of those missing during conflict
Minister for Peace and Reconstruction Janardan Sharma on Monday said the government would soon start work to find the condition and whereabouts of people who went missing during the decade-long armed conflict. He said that an effective law would also be formulated to ease the process.
Speaking at a press meet organised by Federation of Nepalese Journalist (FNJ) in Rukum, Minister Sharma said the government has given high priority to reconstruction efforts - rebuilding infrastructures destroyed during the insurgency period.
Rukum in mid-western Nepal was one of the hardest hit by Maoist conflict.
"The government would start a special nation wide campaign to give the people of this country full semblance of peace," he said. Maoists together with the then Royal Nepalese Army (RNA) have been blamed for abducting or forcibly disappearing more than 1200 people during Nepal's 10-year long conflict.
ICRC and the Nepal Red Cross Society are soon publishing the names of more than 1200 people reported as missing by their relatives between 1996 and 2006. In February 2007, it published its first list of 812 names. As a result, 33 families learnt the fate of their loved ones.
Maoists also destroyed communication towers, bridges, police posts and government buildings said to be running to billions of rupees during the war they waged against the state. Minister Sharma is a senior Maoist leader.
The Maoist led government has also said that it would provide Rs 1 million each as compensation to kin of those killed during the Maoist insurgency.
On Saturday, Finance Minister Dr. Baburam Bhattarai said that though the government has decided to provide just Rs 1,00,000 to conflict-hit people for this fiscal year due to lack of resources, it will provide them Rs 1 million next year. nepalnews.com ag Sep 29 08
