| | DURADANDA (LAMJUNG), Nov 27: It had rained in the morning. The afternoon was foggy. Buddha Ram Darji looked out the window of a classroom at Devi Sadan Primary School, Turlung. He saw about six people with black handkerchiefs tried around their mouths walking along a trail that stretched right in front of the school.
Their movement alarmed Darji. But he couldn´t gather the courage to step out and inquire what was going on. His sense of alarm grew stronger after he saw students from another school arrive at his own.
“They killed Panini´s principal today,” the students told him, their voice cracking with fear.
The face of Navakumar Adhikari flashed through Darji´s mind. By the time the students briefed him about the tragedy, it was already 2:30 pm. He was thoroughly shaken by news of the murder. The teachers called off classes for the day and headed to the spot of the crime.
Near Panitanki, he saw the slain teacher´s body tied to an alder tree. But it was not Navakumar Adhikari who had met the gruesome death. It was Muktinath Adhikari, who had taken charge as principal of Panini Sanskrit Secondary School that very day.
Muktinath´s hands were tied behind his back, against an alder tree. The killers had used his own muffler to tie his neck to the tree.
The Culprit
Muktinath was just one of thousands of victims of the Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) that is currently busy conducting its plenum at Palungtar, Gorkha. In the name of rooting out feudals and exploiters from the villages, the party murdered a person who had worked to hold society together.
The murder that took place in Lamjung district, located close to the Maoist plenum venue, nine years ago is still fresh in the memory of Duradanda locals. The cold-blooded murder shocked the country as well as the international community. But no one has been tried for the murder yet.
Instead of waiting for the class to be over, the visitors entered the classroom. They tied his hands behind his back. The scared students started crying. The intruders ordered all teachers to assemble on the school ground and also told the students to get out of the classrooms. They then took Muktinath away, pointing a gun at his temple. The intruders warned everyone against following them or telling anyone about the incident.
Almost a decade has passed since the murder on January 16, 2002. But the wounds left by it remain fresh. Fear still grips the village. Many wonder what kind of end others might meet when a righteous, hard-working idealist like Muktinath could be killed in such fashion.
Last Cup of Tea
On the morning of January 16, 2002, Muktinath paid a visit to his cousin Bal Krishna Neupane, now 66. Neupane, a retired Indian Army soldier and Muktinath´s neighbor, offered him tea. Muktinath told him, “The responsibility of school principal has come upon my shoulders. I don´t want it, but I don´t have a choice.”
Muktinath´s predecessor Navakumar had left the village after being unable to live there any more. The day before the murder, Muktinath was summoned by the District Education Office to assume the responsibility. He took the appointment letter on January 15 and left for his village the same day. Friends at Besisahar, the district headquarters, had asked him to stay for a day. But he declined as the school was in a shambles and he had to bring it back into order.
“He had tea at this porch in the morning. Hours later, he was murdered,” Bal Krishna recalled, tears welling up in his eyes. Muktinath went home from there, had lunch, and left for the school where his killers found him.
Bal Krishna himself had fought the Maoists once when he was employed as a security guard at Nepal Bank Limited, Chandrapata branch. The Maoists came to take his gun. After a tussle over the gun, he eventually let it go upon being hacked with khukuri knives. Though emotionally strong, Bal Krishna was shattered on learning about Muktinath´s murder.
“I received 54 stitches after bank the incident,” he said. “I never feared death. But Muktinath´s murder was extremely painful for me.”
The Idealist
Muktinath Adhikari was an ideal teacher, a social worker, and rights worker. He lost both his father and mother at a young age. He joined school much later than other children. But he was so good in his studies that he didn´t have to spend a long time at the primary level.
He completed his SLC with first division grades. He did well in higher studies as well. He was awarded an MBBS scholarship under the Colombo Plan, but ended up giving that opportunity to someone else, villagers say.
A selfless man, he was always willing to help others. He strived for unity among the villagers. He never idled away his time. Even people who were older than him were afraid to play cards when he was around. He inspired children. He had a simple message: Hard work.
Muktinath led by example. Though he was the principal of Panini Sanskrit Secondary School when he was murdered, he was renowned all over the district for his grasp of mathematics and science. Students from far-flung villages camped in the village to attend tuition classes that he conducted.
Thakur Prasad Tiwari, 53, of Chaharepani, Chandreswar-6, Lamjung, remembers his childhood friend Muktinath as being sharp in studies. After SLC, Muktinath started teaching. He would tell children to allocate time for studies and for play. He told villagers to put time to good use rather than waste it playing cards.
The villagers are full of praises for Muktinath. They still remember watching him being forced to walk a half-an-hour´s distance from Panini School to Panitanki, a gun pointed to his temple and his hands tied behind his back.
Jeevnath Adhikari, a teacher at Sarvodaya Higher Secondary School, whom Republica bumped into along that trail, said, “There cannot be another teacher like him.”
Jeevnath had accompanied Muktinath to Besisahar the day before the murder. He had urged Muktinath not to accept the appointment letter. But Muktinath had said he had no choice. “That was our last meeting,” he recalled.
Narajang Dura, 53, who lives near the murder spot, said, “He was so helpful. He always offered us good advice.”
Muktinath had started many good practices in the village. It was due to his initiative that villagers started offering their labor to farmers who fell ill during the planting or harvesting season. Muktinath had united the villagers.
“All of us used to help if someone fell ill,” said Saraswati Adhikari, 63, of Chaharepani. “But today, no one helps even if someone dies.”
In a sense, Muktinath´s murder was the murder of a thread that united society. Breaking that thread was essential for the Maoists to penetrate the village politically.
Day of the Murder
On the day of the murder, classes were being conducted at Panini Sanskrit Secondary School, like on any other day. Muktinath was tutoring 10th graders. The tiffin bell was about to ring. At around 1:10 pm a few visitors came looking for the school principal. After seeing him in the classroom, they asked him to come out. Muktinath told them to wait until the class was over.
“He was fearless as he hadn´t harmed anyone,” said Subhakar Khatiwada, who is the school´s principal today.
Instead of waiting for the class to be over, the visitors entered the classroom. They tied his hands behind his back. The scared students started crying. The intruders ordered all the teachers to assemble on the school ground and also told the students to get out of the classrooms. They then took Muktinath away, pointing a gun at his temple. The intruders warned everyone against following them or telling anyone about the incident.
There were 10 or 12 of them. They were also carrying a grenade, according to teachers who witnessed the incident. But the teachers followed the intruders at a safe distance.
The Maoists had demanded that all the teachers ´donate´ 25 percent of their salary. Muktinath had called a meeting of the teachers. The meeting had reached a decision not pay the sum.
While taking Muktinath away, the Maoists had said they would return him after two days. No one dared to confront the Maoists while they were taking Muktinath down the main road of the village to Panitanki. Everyone was terrified.
The Maoists shot Muktinath in the temple, stabbed him with a knife and headed toward Turlung. A local said he bumped into one female and eight male Maoists in a forest at Sindure VDC. The team was under the leadership of one Devendra Poudel of Lamjung. Later, a murder complaint was filed against Poudel.
After murdering Muktinath, the Maoists accused him of being a spy. However, they haven´t explained so far how he spied or on what. Instead, Maoist Vice chairman Baburam Bhattarai, in a television interview, admitted that “Killing Mukti Sir was a mistake”. Muktinath was also the coordinator of Amnesty International´s Group 79 in Duradanda.
The alder tree where Muktinath was buchered is no longer in existence. A few days after the murder, the villagers literally uprooted the tree as they saw in it a sign of bad luck. But removing the tree hasn´t helped locals forget the murder.
Story behind the picture (Based on the information given by the person who took the pictures. He still prefers to remain anonymous.)
After the murder, newspapers were awash with the picture of Muktinath, his hands tied behind his back against an alder tree, his neck tied to the tree with his own muffler, and his cap lying on the ground in front. The picture resurfaces time and again in print. To this day, I haven´t been able to claim credit for it. after taking the picture I didn´t dare to go home for three years, not even to celebrate Dashain.
I took the picture then just for the record. The night after the murder, we were keeping vigil over the dead body. At around 11 pm we lit huge logs and left. But we came back time and again to make sure no one touched the body.
One of the pictures taken by the anonymous photographer on January 16, 2002.
The next morning, I asked a local photographer to take a picture of the body. But he was too scared to go there. So I took his camera, went there, and took pictures from different angles. After taking the pictures, I returned the camera to the photographer. He later gave me the developed prints. I eventually gave the pictures to a journalist associated with Himalkhabarpatrika. The news magazine published them.
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