Grief is for the rich
SEP 14 -
On January 14, 2009, under a hot Middle-Eastern sun, a Nepali was murdered. Ganesh Bahadur Basnet’s lifeless body was discovered by the United Arab Emirates police, but in the absence of a passport or any other form of identification, he was quickly buried in an anonymous grave. A year later, Durga Bahadur Sunar came before the UAE court on charges of murder. Police were certain he had killed another, they just didn’t know who. Durga eventually admitted to killing Ganesh in a fit of rage, and the UAE court promptly handed him the death penalty.
Back in Nepal, Ambika and Mohan Basnet were growing increasingly worried about their son. Ganesh haunted their dreams. It had been years since they had last spoken to him; Ganesh had left in 2005, and his father’s anxiety had begun to manifest as a mental problem. Then, in July, they received a letter from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. That nagging suspicion in the back of their minds finally burst forth: Ganesh was dead.
“He was in continuous contact with us for three years. He had informed us that he was leaving his job, as he said he was not earning enough to sustain himself. Once at his new place of employment, he had even told us he was earning a handsome salary. Then, all of a sudden, we stopped hearing from him,” says Ambika.
Ambika’s sister Ratna Kumari Khadka relates how Ganesh had asked a relative to take back gifts for his family, just a few days before he was murdered. He had never showed up. “Fate had something else planned for him,” says Ratna Kumari.
Meanwhile, in Parbat, Man Kumari Sunar, 64, works menial jobs to sustain herself. Following the death of her husband five years ago, Man Kumari has become increasingly desolate and destitute, with no money to her name. And after her only son left for the UAE in 2003, the first news she heard of him, in nine long years, was that he was to be executed for murder. Now, with Durga on death row, Man Kumari is homeless and inconsolable.
“I have no one else in the world. If he dies, I will have no reason to live,” she laments.
The Basnet and Sunar families are archetypes. Every day, close to 1200 Nepalis receive authorisation from the government to migrate abroad, to the Gulf and Malaysia, in search of work. These Nepalis are mostly poor,
uneducated and unaware of the harsh conditions that foreign lands can present. Taking out exorbitant loans and selling off what little property they have, these migrants put their lives on the line every day, often working illegally, to send remittances back to the country to support their families.
The two families met to discuss blood money, a seemingly archaic provision that the UAE allows. If the concerned families reach a formal agreement, the UAE court will pardon Durga and let him off scot-free. For now, there doesn’t seem to be any animosity between the two sides. The Basnets are willing to pardon Durga, provided that they receive adequate compensation of Rs 1 million, an amount that the government had promised them. Man Kumari, meanwhile, has begged the government to do whatever necessary to save her only son.
The government, for its part, has allocated Rs 100,000 as seed money, besides appealing to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Labour and Employment, the National Human Rights Commission, the Foreign Employment Board, the Department of Foreign Employ-ment and various expatriate and migrant Nepali communities abroad. An additional Rs 250,000 has been raised through various migrant Nepali organisations.
“In our old age, we’ve lost our only support. Her [Ambika’s] legs don’t work and my health is weakening. We are only asking for this money out of compulsion,” says Mohan Bahadur. The Basnets have been living in a rented home since 1990, and have not even paid back the loan they incurred while sending Ganesh abroad. Man Kumari, on the other hand, is homeless. Two residents of Parbat are currently helping her with food and accommodations.
While a date for Durga’s execution has not been set so far by the court, they had provided a September deadline for the pardon. If not met, Durga will be shipped to Saudi Arabia where he will be beheaded. Mohan Bahadur urges all to help the two families, “Assistance to the Sunar family will not just save Durga’s life but it will also save ours.”
Despite the upheavals that both these desperate families have had to go through, they continue to work everyday, doing what little they can to survive. “If we were rich, we could’ve forgiven Durga without taking any money,” says Ambika, who continues to sell roasted maize by the roadside, despite her partial paralysis, despite her husband’s mental illness, and despite the fact that she was unable to perform her only child’s last rites. For her, and Man Kumari, there is no time to mourn. “Who will feed us if I mourn?” questions Ambika. “People like us have to toil every single day to survive. Grief is for rich people.”
For external donations, an Everest Bank account, no 00100513202875, Singh Durbar branch, has been opened in Mohan Bahadur’s name
Posted on: 2012-09-15 08:52
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