This news is two years old. But this has been a pattern. ************ RICHES TO RAGS ? A TALE OF DISPLACEMENT "We have been uprooted. There?s nobody to help us" BY SURENDRA PHUYAL IN NEW DELHI Kantipur online Until Baishakh 1, 2062 (April 14, 2005), Amar Bahadur Thapa, 55, of Rolpa?s Badachaur village was a proud owner of a well-stocked convenience store at Sulichaur, located 35 kilometeres away from Rolpa?s district headquarter ? Liwang. He possessed assets and properties worth over 20 million Nepali rupees (NRs) and often used to donate money for local projects. His social reputation had also earned him the presidency of a local road construction project under the 2001 Integrated Social Development Program (ISDP). Five months later, his life has been turned upside down. His happy family has disintegrated as a result of the Maoists? brutal ways. His family members have been forced to flee their village and relocate to relatively safer areas in Nepalgunj, Butwal and neighbouring towns in India. Amar, the family?s breadwinner, has reached Rikangpio in the Kinnor district of India?s Himanchal Pradesh. His wife and ageing parents are currently in Nepalgunj; two of his sons are job-hunting in north Indian cities. ?They (the Maoists) asked me to send my children ? five sons and two daughters, all between 15 to 30 years of age ? to join their militia," said Amar. "I couldn?t do that. So, in retribution, they attacked our shops and houses and looted all our property ? in two separate raids in April and August.? No different is the tale narrated by Hukum Bahadur Thapa, 52, a former chief of Amar?s village. Reportedly, the rebels looted Hukum?s property worth NRs 80 million; they also captured his 32-year-old son Govinda?s shop and house at Runibang village. ?We are fine here, but we are extremely worried about our spouses, ageing parents and little children in Nepal,? said Hukum. ?We have been uprooted. There?s nobody to help us.? Bir Bahadur Bista, also originally from mid-western Nepal, has been trying to help the displaced Thapas. The social worker, currently based at Rampur in Himanchal Pradesh, said: ?They are (were) all hardworking entrepreneurs back home. This war has made them beggars. We are raising some funds to help them. We are also trying to find them decent jobs.? He demanded an investigation into the matter by all local human rights organizations, including the National Human Rights Commission, and the government. Echoing the Thapas? grievances, he asserted: ?Grave injustice has been meted out against them; you should help us ensure justice for them and compensate them adequately.? Now that Dashain is around the corner and the rebels have declared a three-month-long unilateral ceasefire, would the Thapas be willing to return to their remote villages? ?No I don?t want to go back to my village,? said Amar. ?If I do, or try to take the help of the security forces, they will kill me; they will kill us all. It?s better to do menial jobs here in India than get slaughtered.?