Let me begin by referring to a study conducted by a British anthropologist at the University of Edinburgh, Dr Joost Fontein on the “The Politics of the Dead” in Zimbabwe. His study tries to capture the realities of politics and cultural phenomena associated with those who lost their lives during the strife and war in the past. It focuses on the public demands for exhumation, identification and commemoration of thousands of bodies dumped in the bush without rituals of any kind One of the interesting findings was that the people treat the unidentified dead bodies as living souls. In fact they interact with the spirits of their deceased family members and relatives. The dead manifest themselves through the spirit-possessions and they demand proper funeral and burial of their bodies. If this is not done, the people are haunted and fall sick or all sorts of misfortunes occur to them. Not everybody would agree to this kind of belief system, but the fact is a great chunk of Zimbabweans do believe in these demands of the spirits, and indeed this has become one of the key reasons for people to seek justice for the bones. Well, I have not heard of such incidents in Nepal. There could be similar stories from our villages too, because a big chunk of Nepali people do believe in the spirit of the dead and almost every community has its own rituals to calm down those spirits. The outside world may even think that Nepal has now become a Mao-land where people no longer believe in spirits, witches and ghosts, but in fact quite opposite is the case. Shamans and faith healers are as busy as ever, treating people by driving away evil sprits. Perhaps, it is too early to claim that the politics of violence has come to an end in Nepal. Daily media reports suggest that people continue to be killed or maimed, by different groups on different grounds. But at least we could say that the politics of mass-death has ended and the chances of long-term peace are higher than ever before. The sad part is though, the peace process deals mainly with those alive. The families of the dead might be offered some financial compensation, but the dead will not get it. How could we give them a dignified farewell? Nobody appears to be concerned about these issues. Hundreds of people are still missing and those who are confirmed dead, where are they buried? Their families and friends continue to be tormented with this question. The state should waste no time to clarify their whereabouts and if possible, find ways and means of giving the remains of the dead to the family members for proper funeral. We do not know how many Maoists got killed in the battles and where their bodies have been dumped. In fact we do not have the exact number of those killed so far. The families and relatives of the deceased may not have burnt tyres in Kathmandu, but we should heed their silent sorrow. Unlike land and properties, the lives lost cannot be retrieved. The state and parties should be sensitive towards this issue and this should become a fundamental part of our peace process. Equally important, what are we doing about the murderers? Are we going to let everyone get away with it? Which murders are justified and which are not? Even the known killers after the declaration of the end of the People’s War are not tried and convicted as per the law of the land. If everyone is set free, how will we deal with future criminals? It is surprising there is not any debate about these fundamental issues. Not everybody is able to come to Kathmandu and create a noise for the brutal murders of their dear and near ones. But everybody’s life is equally important and the pain and suffering is the same for all the families and friends. So, it is morally wrong to pursue one case and not another. It is wrong to differentiate between those killed by the police/army and by the Maoists, (Mugabe claimed that they should differentiate between the “good bones” and the “bad bones” in Zimbabwe). All murders are wrong and the state should find some ways to quickly address the woes of the bereaved families and do justice to the dead. It is not an easy task but the government should initiate the process urgently. (ud.pariyar@gmail.com)