Roshan Sedhai

Sixty-four-year-old Man Kumari Sunar, mother of Durga Bahadur Sunar, has asked the government to save her only son who is on a death row in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). A UAE court in 2010 announced the death penalty for Sunar, 30, of Parbat district for killing one Ganesh Bahadur Basnet on January 14, 2009.

The poverty-stricken mother requested the government to pay the blood money to Basnet’s family members, who have so far refused to pardon Sunar without first getting “proper” compensation.

In a meeting of the two families at the Media Club here in the presence of human rights activists on Tuesday, Basnet’s parents demanded Rs 2 million if they were to pardon Sunar. The UAE law permits a victim’s family to pardon the culprit either through blood money settlement or through mutual understanding.

“I don’t have a penny to save my son’s life. If my son dies, I will have no reason to live,” Man Kumari told the Post on Wednesday. The old woman said she is homeless and is engaged in menial work.

“I have no one in this world except my son,” lamented Man Kumari, whose husband died five years ago. In the last nine years, the first news she heard about her son was that of the death penalty. “Two months after his departure, he called a villager once and said he was in the UAE. We heard nothing from him after that,” she said.

Coincidentally, the Basnet family is also homeless. Basnet’s father is paralysed and the mother also cannot walk properly. The poor family is sustaining themselves by selling maize in Dallu, Kathmandu.
“Uncle has not even repaid a loan he took while sending Ganesh abroad. Since the condition of the Sunar family is even more pathetic than ours, we would like the government to help us,” said Bhakta Khadka, Basnet’s cousin. Khadka said the family is flexible on the amount of blood money.

Basnet’s family came to know of his death only three-and-a-half years after the murder. As Basnet was working illegally, the UAE police buried his corpse after being unable to ascertain his identity.
Two residents of Parbat district are helping Man Kumari in the Capital, but she is disappointed with the government’s response.

“Time is running out and officials have done nothing. Many do not want to take up the case and keep pointing fingers at others,” said Lal Sharma Subedi, one of the Parbat residents helping Man Kumari. 

Subedi said a written petition had been filed at the Ministry of Labour and Employment, the Foreign Employment Promotion Board, the Consular Section of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA), the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) and the Department of Foreign Employment (DoFE) and the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) to help save Sunar.

Subedi said the government should write to the UAE government to postpone the date of execution until financial matters are settled here. He said only one month is left for the execution.
However, Deepak Adhikari, an official at the Nepali mission in the UAE said the embassy has not received any letter concerning the execution. 

“The UAE government has written us to forward the process of pardon if possible, but the date for the execution has not been fixed so far,” said Adhikari. Dilip Poudel, chief of the Consular Section at the Foreign Ministry here, said the government has directed the UAE mission to complete the negotiations by September.  

The NHRC said it also wrote to the PMO, the Foreign Ministry and Home Ministry regarding the matter. A team of rights activists met PM Baburam Bhattarai on Wednesday and urged him to act and save Sunar.

 Published on: 23 August 2012 | The Kathmandu Post