KATHMANDU, NEPAL – Naresh Bohara, 18, former section commander of the People’s Liberation Army, PLA, the armed wing of the Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist, says he felt secure with an M-16 rifle in his hands during the Nepal Civil War. But although the war ended five years ago, he says he feels more insecure than ever.
For three and a half years after the war ended, Bohara says he kept his job as a section commander. He says he planned on a long future serving his country and was pleased when the government here vowed to integrate the PLA into the national army. But 18 months ago, Bohara was discharged from the PLA because he was underage during the civil war. He was a child soldier.
Now he says he doesn’t know what to do. He says he chose to join the PLA and fight in the civil war to secure a better future for his fellow Nepalis. But he says it cost him his own future as today he is jobless and hopeless.
“I now realized that I had ruined my life, as I was declared unqualified and discharged,” he says.
Although he was discharged more than a year ago, Bohara is still looking for a job. He says he occasionally visits home but doesn’t want to live in his village because he fears it will not accept him for joining then being discharged from the PLA. Yet he is not alone in his fears and frustrations.
Thousands of soldiers who were discharged because they fought in the conflict while underage say they are now struggling to support themselves and their families. Many, like Bohara, say they now feel that they lost the opportunity to earn an education and good jobs because they chose to fight in the civil war. Although the government and the U.N. have set up a rehabilitation program for former child soliders here, many say it is not sufficient compensation for what they sacrificed for their country. Some have turned to crime, and others say they may soon join them. Advocates say the discharged fighters need to return home, but many say they will be ostracized in their villages for being released.
The PLA was founded during the Nepal Civil War, a decade-long war from 1996 to 2006 in which the Maoists overthrew the monarchy government and established a democratic republic. More than 12,000 Nepalis died in the conflict. As part of the peace accord, the PLA was to be integrated into the national army – one of the challenges currently facing Nepal’s new prime minister, Jhalanath Khanal, after the United Nations Mission in Nepal, UNMIN, which had been in charge of the integration, withdrew from Nepal in January after its mandate was not extended.
But UNMIN’s influence is still being felt in Nepal among the more than 4,000 combatants it discharged from the PLA last January. According to UNMIN, 2,973 fighters were discharged because they were under 18 during the conflict. Others were dismissed because they joined the PLA after the peace accord was signed. The remaining 19,000 are living in PLA’s seven divisions awaiting integration into the national army as the discharged try to re-establish a life for themselves as civilians.
By discharging the PLA fighters, Nepal will be removed from the U.N. list of countries that recruit child soldiers, according to the U.N. National and international law under the Geneva Convention make it illegal for citizens under 18 to serve in the army.
“Not only can these young people now finally get on with their lives, but this also marks a new beginning at the start of a new decade for Nepal so that it can move forward to a more stable, peaceful future,” said Gillian Mellsop, UNICEF’s Nepal representative, at the release ceremony last year.
But many discharged fighters have not seen this as a blessing and a year later say they still have no future to move on to. They say that after about a decade of service in the PLA, they each returned home with 10,000 rupees, $140 USD, from the Maoist party, but nothing from the government.
“Our party did at least what it can [for] us, but the government did nothing,” says Birendra Dhami, a discharged Maoist fighter.
Before the discharge process began, rumors were rife that the discharged fighters would receive handsome financial support.
"But that didn't happen, and at the end [we] were left high and dry," Dhami says. "The monarchy was ousted, and Nepal became a secular and republic country with our support. Our contribution is undermined."
Dhurba Prasad Sharma, secretary of the Ministry of Peace and Reconstruction, says the government has no plans to provide any financial assistance to the discharged combatants.
“But we are working on sending those interested in foreign employment abroad and [providing] them vocational training in coordination with donor organizations so that [their] return to civilian life can be facilitated.”
Bhakta Bahadur BK, former vice platoon commander of PLA's Seventh Division, says he is now worried about being able to provide two square meals a day for his family and anxious about his uncertain future.
“We fought a war with sickles, spades and guns, thinking that it would emancipate the people from poverty,” BK says. “Now we have been left stranded, and nobody cares [about] us.”
BK joined the Maoist party in 2004 and received five bullets in different parts of his body during the war.
“The shrapnel in my left [arm] is yet to be removed,” he says.
BK says he has to pay for medical treatment in addition to being his family’s sole provider. But he does not have a regular source of income.
“There is no work in the village,” he says. “It’s really a tough time to eke out a living.”
Another discharged Maoist fighter, Suresh Thapa, is eking out a living by doing dishes at a local hotel. He says that fighting for a better future for Nepalis has left his own future precarious.
“What an irony!” Thapa says. “We fought for 30 million people of Nepal, and now our own future [is] uncertain.”
He says some of his friends who were also discharged went to neighboring India to find jobs.
Others have become active in politics, are aiming to go abroad in search of jobs in the Gulf countries or have become involved with small businesses.
But many discharged fighters struggle to find jobs because the majority of them are illiterate. Since most of them are from impoverished families, they joined the PLA because they couldn’t afford to go to school. Others quit school to fight to turn Nepal into a republic.
Anil Chitrakar, another discharged combatant, quit school in sixth grade to join the war. Chitrakar says he would have easily found a job had he finished his education but that now it is too late to go back.
“Now I can't resume study from grade seven," he says.
Another discharged fighter, Prakash Singh Dhami, who is in his early 20s, agrees that education is crucial to employment but that he’s too old to go back to school now.
"I can't be a kid again and start study from the primary level," he says.
But some are returning to school with the help of the United Nations Inter-agency Rehabilitation Program, UNIRP, which provides education fees, a uniform and a monthly stipend of $25 USD. In response to the government’s request and as part of the action plan signed by the Maoists and the U.N., UNIRP offers four packages to rehabilitate discharged fighters into civilian life: educational assistance and training in vocational skills, micro-enterprise development or health-related services.
But only about 2,400 discharged fighters have contacted the program’s office so far, according to UNIRP. Some discharged fighters say the rehabilitation packages are inadequate compensation for their service.
"Our main problem is we are still living in a fear for our survival," Dhami says.
Some say they hope the new government under Khanal will propose new packages for the discharged fighters.
But others aren’t waiting to find out and have instead turned to crime to support themselves.
Last month, a group of seven discharged fighters vandalized two vehicles and smashed the windowpanes of the U.N. office in Nepal’s Far-Western Region, demanding food and shelter. All seven were arrested, according to police.
"The attack is a sign that our patience is on the wane," Chitrakar says. "We are demanding that the fate of the fighters shouldn't be shrouded in uncertainty, which is genuine given our great contribution to the country and people."
Another eight discharged fighters were arrested for their involvement in various illegal activities, such as forcing businessmen to give them money, carrying guns without licenses and looting. Others say they will join them if they do not receive more help soon.
"I myself [will] take up illegal means for survival if my return to civilian life is not made easier," Thapa says.
Child rights activist Raj Kumar Wagle says it is in the interest of all the stakeholders to jointly bring about a positive change and improve living conditions for the discharged fighters.
"The real rehabilitation can only take place in the context of a family and a real home," Wagle says.
But many discharged fighters say they are reluctant to go home because they fear their villages will ostracize them for being disqualified.
“If I go home, villagers may tease me, saying that I am a disqualified PLA man and I could not do anything,” Dhami says. "If any discharged fighter hears this, it will be hard to digest."
BK says this would be hard to digest because the villagers used to respect them.
“The villagers, who treated us with respect and dignity in the past, look at the discharged fighters disdainfully these days,” BK says.
