For the first time since 1999, Akal Bahadur Shahi is able to celebrate Dasain - the most important festival for Hindus in Nepal - in his remote Kalikakhetu village, Jumla District, nearly 700km northwest of the capital, Kathmandu.
Eight years ago, former Maoist rebels forced him to leave his village, telling him he would never return for refusing to support their “people’s war” against the government.
Homeless and impoverished, Shahi’s family had literally turned into nomads, moving with their few belongings from one place to another.
They ended up in Nepalgunj, a city in southwestern Nepal close to the Indian border. Nepalese migrant workers passed through the city to reach India, where tens of thousands of Nepalese from the hill regions had fled to avoid violence at the hands of both the Maoist army and state security forces, according to local human rights groups.
“We used to live in terrible conditions with irregular food, no income and my children could not attend school as they had to work to support the family,” said Shahi.
According to the UN, nearly 200,000 Nepalese were internally displaced during the decade-long armed conflict between the Maoist rebels and the Nepalese government, which ended with a peace agreement in November 2006.
Dwindling number of IDPs
The displaced have gradually returned home since then, with help from local human rights groups and international aid agencies, said local aid workers. According to the internally displaced persons’ (IDP) protection working group - which comprises local and international agencies, UN bodies and the Red Cross Movement - the number of displaced in Nepal may now have gone down to 50,000-70,000.
“With more security, and assistance from aid agencies, surely many will be able to return home,” said rights activist Bholo Mahat from the Informal Sector Service Centre (INSEC), a local rights non-governmental organisation (NGO), which has assisted thousands of IDPs to return to their homes over the past year. Mahat said the level of security was now far better, returns were taking place, but that the issue of property seized by former rebels was still problematic.
 Photo: Naresh Newar/IRIN  |
| Thousands of displaced children born and brought up in camps may have a chance to return home |
Aid workers said thousands of families had returned to their villages for Nepal’s Dasain festival week, which started on 17 October and is equivalent to Christmas or Eid in other countries. Even the most notorious militant groups suspend their activities for Dasain week, said activists.
Over 2,000 families were able to return home for Dasain to Jumla, Mugu, Kalikot, Bajura, Dailekh and Jajarkot districts, according to IDP assistance workers, and they expect more IDPs to follow.
“We were so desperate to celebrate Dasain in our own home and finally we can do that,” said Shahi, breathing a sigh of relief as he got into the bus to Jumla.
“The Maoists have asked us to return home now and have promised we can live in peace,” said Mainkala Shahi, sounding excited but still nervous about how he and his family will be treated in the village from which they were expelled eight years ago.
Currently, the Maoists control local farms and livestock, after seizing them, said INSEC, and it is not clear if returnees will get all their land and property back.
Many returnees, however, seem to be comfortable with the idea of returning to their villages, reassured by recent returnees that the climate of fear has abated: The displaced hope at least that the Maoists will not kill or expel those who do not support them.
“Actually, the Maoists have been volunteering to help in the return of the displaced villagers,” said Shahi.
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This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions
