A Grandmother Searching Her Grandson at Ponds

Pankaj Karki, 12, is missing 19 days ago from his home. Her grandmother, Krishna Kumari Karki has searched every possible place to find her grandson. She has also been to ten hand readers to find her son’s situation and all of them suggest her to search at ponds. I found her searching in front of my home’s pond.

I thought that may be she is irrigating water in her paddy field, but I was shocked to know that she is searching her missing grandson at the pond. She told me “Panna le malai pankaje ko Sarir lai Kholanala ma khojanu bhaneko chha, Tesaile ma khojadai chhu (The hand reader told me to search Pankaj’s body at the pond, so I am searching). Her eyes were red and full of tears. Her lips were dried and hairs were dirty and flying with air. She was walking without the slipper at the pond. She still hopes to find her grandson’s body at the pond because she believed in hand reader. I suggest informing and providing Pankaj’s photo to the police if possible.

According to his family member, On July 13, 2009, all the family members were busy in his own youngest aunt marriage. Pankaj was also enjoying the marriage ceremony, but suddenly that night he was missing from the home. But his family member thought that he went to his aunt new home without informing them. After three days, Pankaj mother, Shanta Karki start worrying about her son and asked her mother in law to make sure that her son is in his aunt home. After phoning their aunt, they came to know that he had never been to his aunt’s home and start to search him. When they came to know that their son’s is missing, they went immediately to hand reader instead of police station. And the hand reader told them that it’s impossible to find Pankaj’s lives but if they searched at the pond they can found his death body. After hearing from the hand reader, his mother is crying everyday and she stopped eating properly.

Pankaj was staying with his grandmother, mother and two of his younger sisters in Mirgouliya-8, Morang, Nepal. Some days ago, she has informed to Sub police Station at Belbari-3, Morang, Nepal and the inspector told her that they will inform her as soon as they found or heard about Pankaj. The time has changed but still people believe in superstition. Here the hand reader has only make Pankaj’s family more miserable because they have told that he had passed away so they are searching their child’s death body with eyes full of tears and starving instead of their child lives.

Till today Pankaj’s grandmother is searching Pankaj’s body at the pond. Pankaj is not a single case who is missing from his home. There are many more that are missing from their home and still there are media and government attention. Kantipur, a highly prestige daily newspaper in Nepal, published an official records on July 19, 2009, that on 2065/66 (2008/2009) 18 people were killed and 29 were kidnapped, where two were women. Among 29, kidnapped people, three were killed and one situation is unknown. In the above case, the cause of murder and kidnapped were personal and economic rather than political.

Here I have a question, What about the children like Pankaj, No one knows whether he is kidnapped or killed? Isn’t its government responsibility to keep the records of those people who are missing from their home? The government has to think about this.