Dandagaon shaking with bomb blast

Dilip and Pooja are the parents of 11-year-old Dipsan and two-and-a-half-year-old Prinsa, who died when they were playing with an abandoned bomb found at the house of neighbor Aitaraj Kerung on August 13. If someone inquires about the incident, Pooja will be angry. Dileep turns to the other side to suppress his tears.

"My heart is broken, after investigating the incident, action should be taken against those who left the explosives in a careless situation, so that innocent and young children do not lose their lives," Pooja said in a broken voice. Prinsa and Dipsan were not only killed in the accidental bomb blast, Pawan, son of local Gyan Bahadur and Dipsan, son of Deepak Rai were also injured. Both the injured persons have been taken to the burn hospital in Kirtipur, Kathmandu for treatment. The wind situation is complicated. He is being treated in the ICU. After the

incident, the eyes of the relatives are not closed . They have the same fear. Local Indramaya Sanwa said that most of the parents of the village were at the fair when the explosion occurred. "We were working, we heard a loud crash. When we went and looked, the children were scattered all over the place. It happened when they were playing together," she said. Nata says that Indramaya, who is the grandmother of the deceased children, is finding it difficult to understand.

'It seems that the parents are walking in the yard, how can the parents understand,' said Indramaya, 'The souls of the dead children will not find peace until the perpetrators are punished.' On the night of August 13, Dipsan, who was rescued from the scene, was taken to B&C Hospital in Jhapa and Ilam Hospital in Prinsa. passed away.

Phalelung Rural Municipality has arranged the expenses to take the injured Pawan and Dipsan Rai to Kathmandu and the treatment is being arranged by the non-governmental organization Siwin Nepal . With regard to the incident, along with the state and federal governments, the district political parties, civil society and humanist organizations are silent. Even though the representatives of the ward and rural municipality have come to comfort the parents of the deceased, no one representing the state and federal government has reached the scene.

DSP Hemant Bhandari, Chief of Police of Panchthar, who reached the children's funeral last Saturday, promised to investigate the incident impartially. But until 10 days after the incident, the police itself has not reached a decision on how to document the incident and by which process to proceed with the action . Chief District Officer Bishnu Prasad Koirala said that there was a problem in documenting the case as the bomb that exploded appeared to be related to the conflict period. "The transitional justice bill has been passed by both houses and has been approved by the president. In such a situation, who will be the defendant?" he said.

Koirala also says that since there is a separate arrangement for relief and compensation given by the state to the victims of conflict-related cases, there is also confusion about whether or not to give relief from the administration office. Another homemade grenade was defused by the army at the site of the explosion. This grenade is called 'Ampro Explosive Device' by the army. According to DSP Bhandari, looking at the materials, texture and nature of both the detonated and deactivated devices, they were built during the conflict.

Minister of Home Affairs Ramesh Lakhtar also confirmed that both the explosives were manufactured and hidden during the conflict the day after the incident. DSP Bhandari said that even though the police are investigating the incident, no complaint has been filed on behalf of the injured and the deceased. Residents of Dandagaon are angry because the views of the government offices and political parties under the union and the state have not been made public until these days of the incident. Local Vijay Limbu says that the silence of political parties and government bodies has increased the fear among the relatives of the dead and injured.

7 days after the incident, the human rights organizations INSEC and CIWIN Nepal from Biratnagar met with the police, administration and health workers along with the relatives of the dead and injured and conducted an on-site study of the incident.

This is not the first incident in Prangwung where some of the abandoned bombs exploded in Panchthar. Earlier on 074 Baisakh, two children who were going to graze goats were injured when they tried to light a fire in a cave of Hilihang-7 Bharpa . Another 12-year-old boy was also injured while playing with a strange object in a house in Falgunand Rural Municipality-4 Bardanda. Last year, another child of Falgunand-4 Chillingdin was also injured when an unattended bomb exploded.

Man Bahadur Thamsuhang, ward member of Phalelung-5, speculates that there may still be bombs lying around in houses and places used as shelters by Maoists during the conflict. During the conflict, this place was like a shelter for the rebels, sometimes the army and the police came. "Such materials can be found in other places and houses, if not searched and deactivated, more damage can occur," he said.

Phalelung rural municipality spokesman Bharat Kumar Khapangi said that the incident happened when the then rebels did not manage the bombs kept for self-defense along with the peace process. He said that the house where the explosion happened belonged to Maoist activist Aitaraj Kerung (IB). The Kerung family has been living in the capital Fidim since 1968. Dilip Sawa's family lived in that house from 068 to 071. After 071, Gyan Bahadur Rai's family is living.

Gyan Bahadur's family has been cultivating Aitaraj's land in Adhiyan. Even though the house was handed over to Rai, the Kerung family locked it in a room. Someone from the Kerung family would sometimes go home and stay in the open room . The last time, about a month and a half ago, when Kerung's wife went home, she opened the room and piled the garbage collected in the flower garden. Locals suspect that the explosion may have occurred when the children were playing with a stone found around the same place. "There were dirty gaskets and some documents at the place where the doll was found," said Pooja, the mother of the deceased children.