Al Jazeera documentary humanises the statistics of the peace process

You get hit by statistics all the time in post-conflict Nepal: 16,000 killed in ten years, 1,387 disappeared, tens of thousands wounded, 19,602 ex-Maoists officially in camps, 3,000 not in camps anymore, 6,500 opting for integration.

Then there are the 12,648 Maoist fighters who were disqualified by UNMIN because they were either not fighters at all, did not appear for verification, or were below 18 when they joined the Maoist Army. Of these, 2,973 were minors. After a while, these numbing numbers don’t mean anything anymore.

But by following one former Maoist guerrilla from the time he got “disqualified” by UNMIN to the present, film maker Subina Shrestha has brought the human side of Nepal’s conflict, the sacrifice, pain and loss to an international audience. Shrestha’s documentary, ‘The Disillusioned Soldier’, was aired on Al Jazeera this weekend.

Chandra Bhakta Shrestha was just 12 when he joined the Maoists in his native Gorkha after his sister was among female guerrillas captured by state security, raped and killed. Chandra left his simple farmer parents, and became a Maoist “whole timer”. He took part in the battle of Syangja and the ambush at Krishna Bhir in 2005, losing some close comrades.

The documentary traces Chandra’s life in the Shaktikhor Camp, his involvement in the cultural trope in which he was a flutist, how he met his wife-to-be Rupa. In one poignant scene, Chandra is leaving the camp in January 2010 and bids a camera shy goodbye to his pregnant wife.

Chandra signs up for a UN-sponsored skill training and learns to repair mobile phones, and the return home to his scenic village below Himalchuli is a bit like a boy coming home from boarding school. His favourite goat doesn’t recognize him, he fixes things around the house. Soon, his wife and daughter joins him.

Chandra’s mother recalls how her son often came to her in her dreams to say he was all right. Chandra himself had nightmares of the battles he fought in. “We were confident that our vision of a new Nepal would come true, it is very disappointing that our own party abandoned us,” Chandra says.

Chandra soon has to return to party duties (he has joined the YCL) but gets more and more disillusioned with his party gone “off track” and of sitting around doing nothing.

Chandra’s life now revolves around his family. He says: “We used to want to build the country. But I feel I haven’t even been able to help my family, how can I help my country?”