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Human
Rights & Social Justice
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Subhash
Singh: Nepal, the deep field and insurgents
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United
Nations World Food Programme, 30 January 2008
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| When
the Maoist insurgency was reaching its height in 2001, Subhash Singh started
work as an agronomist for WFP in Nepal. He went to the western Nepal town
of Nepalgunj where he opened a new office.
This
is the region where the rebel movement was born some six years earlier,
and where it held a tight grip on the local population.
In
the beginning, Subhash 43, had to go on long hikes through treacherous
mountainous terrain to reach staff in the deep field. Once there, he learned
about operations and encouraged teamwork among the staff. |
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In
rebel hands
"Everything,
including our food programme, was restricted by the Maoists. To negotiate
with them, I had to go there myself. If I sent a programme officer, they
wouldn't talk to them. They insisted on having the highest WFP representation
before they would talk about humanitarian access," Subhash recalls.
"So
to set the rules between WFP and the rebels I had to place myself in rebel
hands. We'd pack up our rucksacks along with a sleeping bag, biscuits,
noodles, water purification tablets and first aid equipment, and start
walking. We used to eat roasted corn or boiled rice, whatever we could
buy from people along the way."
At
night, they slept in farm huts or under the stars, always worried about
nearby Maoists.
Guns
and rifles
It
was not uncommon at that time for the Maoists to detain WFP staff. WFP
was the only aid agency working extensively in that remote region, and
the cadres were slow to learn that they were not police or government soldiers
but Nepalese humanitarian workers.
"The
low-level cadres didn't understand WFP so they held us for four to five
hours while they consulted with their commander, usually with a gun pointed
our way," said Subhash.
On
one occasion he was walking from one district to another when he called
the radio room in Nepalgunj on his satellite phone.
"All
of a sudden, six Maoists with guns and rifles arrived. One of them put
a pistol against my heart and said, 'I want that communications device'."
Although
Subhash and his colleagues were wearing WFP T-shirts, caps and vests, it
took two hours for the Maoists to release them. "I'm still a little traumatised
by that," said Subhash.
Abduction
In
May 2004, a field monitor was abducted and held for seven days in a remote
district. The Maoists threatened to kill him if he tried to escape. Subhash,
who was in Kathmandu at the time, immediately flew back to Nepalgunj and
from there to where his colleague was being detained. Subhash walked nine
hours to get to the Maoists' location.
Then
it was another four days' wait until the commander returned. Subhash, meanwhile,
was bolstering the captive's morale by secretly passing letters to him.
Finally, after a two hour discussion with the commander, the man was set
free.
Subhash
has since transferred to Kathmandu - to the deep relief of his wife and
children - but he still spends a lot of time on the road, overseeing the
emergency flood and drought operations.
Ceasefire
And
with a ceasefire in effect in Nepal, Subhash uses his negotiating skills
nowadays on local political factions which block the roads in a ploy to
steal food from WFP trucks.
After
the Pakistan earthquake in October 2005, Subhash was the first humanitarian
worker to travel to Pakistan's line of control with the disputed territory
of Kashmir.
Once
there he spoke with the army officers in their native Urdu and worked out
a plan to use trucks to carry food to the earthquake victims saving
WFP a huge amount of money that might otherwise have been spent on air
transport.
The
Pakistani army was so impressed with Subhash that they gave him the Pakistan
Army Brigade Award, a rare honour for a foreigner.
Source:
United Nations World Food Programme 2008
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