Tuesday, May 22, 2012
Reintegration, redemption and the Nepali social fabric
The following article was published today (May 22, 2012) in The Kathmandu Post with the title "From war to peace". The direct link to the article is here. The unedited version is below:
Reintegration,
redemption and the social fabric
Among the boiling rhetoric—and subsequent violence—over the federalism
debates, we have been overlooking the critical issue of reintegration of the
Maoist combatants back into the society. Whether they chose the compensation
package or chose to enter the Nepal Army, those ex-combatants are now going
back to their communities. The mental pressures of reintegration into their
communities where they once perpetrated violence pose hurdles that are
difficult, if not impossible, to pass.
Out of the identified deceased victims, 10297 were men and 1013 were
women, according to INSEC. Of these women, 193 were killed by Maoist forces,
and the rest were killed by state security forces. There were instances when state
security forces captured, and then raped, many female combatants. Not that the
Maoists were any better. They entered
many households, killed the husbands in front of their wives, then raped the
wives, and then forcefully took the children to fight their war. Sexual
violence against women was perpetrated by both sides to “teach” the other side
a lesson.
Say whatever about the
Maoist conflict, it did provide unique experiences of freedom to women
combatants like they had never experienced before. To the women who had been
housewives for as long as they could remember, they were suddenly given
responsibilities to command and lead groups of people with missions to kill or
be killed. The Maoists propagated the idea that taking up arms and engaging in
armed disobedience was an empowering activity for the people—especially women. Therefore,
many women joined the war, picked the guns, shot others, and got shot
themselves, too.
However, having spent a decade of their life roaming like nomads and
fighting like warriors, will they go back to accepting the dull realities of everyday
life? Will they be able to resume their traditional “housewife” duties? Will
they accept the inferior status of women in the Nepali society? How will their
actions affect our social fabric? Will they, through whatever actions they take
or paths they choose, be able to reshape the fundamentally patriarchal Nepali
society? If they are not willing to go back to the status-quo situations, what
will they do? Reintegration is going to be a harsh and difficult experience for
these women.
Maoist leaders encouraged and facilitated many of their combatants to
marry one another. However, various organizations working with the
ex-combatants have noticed that the same level of encouragement and efforts
were not spent in registering and obtaining marriage certificates in a uniform
manner. The leadership preached “equality”, but it was absent in practice,
especially in the cases of registration of inter-caste marriages.
Along with women, some children and teenagers willingly joined the
Maoists to experience the “action” that came with an armed conflict. However,
many children and teenagers that participated in the conflict were abducted and/or
forcefully recruited by the Maoists. Regardless of how they got into the Maoist
army, these children and teenagers are now well into their adulthood, and are
returning to the communities they had left while they were still too young.
Many did not receive any higher education during the time of the
conflict, and are returning to their communities with low level of education
and skills. Will they be able to adjust to the life outside of the jungle and
inside the civilized society? Will they be able to identify with the society
that they come back to? Given their wayward growth into adulthood during the
war, will they be able to follow the boundaries of law and order that the
society imposes?
State security forces as well as the Maoist combatants posted at
different sites developed relationships with the locals, and had children from
those relationships. Some children were born from relationships between the
combatants when they were interned in the cantonments. If they wish to receive
any state benefits, these relationships should be legitimized by the state
through marriage and birth certificates. Since some of the fathers either died
during the conflict or deserted their wives and children after the conflict,
many of these women are returning to their communities with children with no
fathers and no citizenships.
Also, when many homes were burned or destroyed during the conflict,
important documents that could facilitate the citizenship filings of the
children got lost or destroyed. Since it is difficult to apply for citizenship
without presenting the father’s documents, many children have no citizenship
certificates. As a result, they are deprived of many rights and opportunities
that come with having a citizenship. The Maoist party has averted its eyes through
this ugly mess. It is only going to get uglier.
The most important issue that those reintegrating combatants—men,
women, and young adults—will have to face is that of redemption. The combatants
not only deserted their communities but also inflicted violence upon them
during the decade-long process. Now, they are returning to those very
communities. In a typical Nepali way, the very first question that pops to one’s
mind is: How will these returning Maoists “show their face” to the community
they harmed? It will not be easy to go back and start living “normally” as if
nothing happened. Will the community accept them back?
The answer to that last question determines the fate of returnees. So
far, communities have not resorted to violence against the returnees. But, this
does not mean they have been forgiven. The reason why communities have not
resorted to punishing the returnees is because they still have hope that appropriate
punishments will be handed out by the Truth and Reconciliation Committee.
However, there have been talks of blanket amnesty that could be given
to all perpetrators—both Maoist combatants and the state security forces—of
violence during the conflict. The returning combatants could give a variety of
reasons for why they hurt and killed their fellow community members during the
conflict. But, it won’t be enough to dissuade a mother’s rage for them having
killed her children, or a husband’s rage for them having raped his wife.
Those are the prospects that we have been willfully overlooking in our
reintegration dialogs. We’re burying our heads in the sand hoping that the sky won’t
fall. The truth of the matter is, if the state does not punish them for the
crimes they have committed, the communities could take matters into their own
hands. And, that is a scary scenario. It will break our social fabric as we
know it.
Labels: INSEC, maoists, reintegration, TRC
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