Nepal: Love Marriages and Revolution

This article is from myrepublica.

This article follows an earlier article on the horrendous sale of women for sex trafficking in South Asia.

In contrast to this are the increasing love marriages in Nepal among the Maoists.   The love marriages – in contrast to the arranged marriages of feudal Nepal – are one example of the revolutionary changes in the New Nepal.

This article shows a glimpse how these love marriages are struggled for in the Maoist cantonments.

Maoist Combatants Finding Life-Partners Inside Cantonments

Amar Khadka

Itahari, Jan. 30: An increasing number of Maoist combatants are finding a life-partner inside the cantonments, though some are finding it hard to convince their parents to accept their spouses.

Ramesh Limbu, company deputy-commander of First Division Headquarters at Chulachuli, Ilam, is one of the unfortunate husbands struggling to make their parents accept their daughter-in-law.

Limbu, 26, who is from Tungupa, Panchthar, married Sushila Khawas.  But his parents have refused to accept Khawas as daughter-in-law.  “We fell in love during the insurgency,” Limbu said.“The meaning of marriage is to understand one another.  But not everything happens the way you want,” said Limbu, alluding to his parents reaction to their marriage.

Limbu, who fought in almost all battles in eastern Nepal during the insurgency, proposed to Khawas a year ago while she was posted at the administrative section of the cantonment

Khawas accepted the proposal two weeks later. But Kwasas was transferred to central security just days after she accepted Limbu’s proposal. The two conversed by telephone every day after her transfer to central security.

The instances of combatants finding life- partners inside the cantonments and satellite camps is increasing. Samir Lama of Makwanpur married Manisha Khanal of Panchthar.  The two met six years ago near the border between Tehrathum and Sankhusabha in the course of battle. The two fell in love and eventually got married by fulfilling all formalities inside the cantonment.

Smiriti Acharya, 23 o Dhakuta, is married to Sagar Khasas of the First Division. “Getting married to a stranger entails spending a lot of time getting to know each other. But marrying a colleague makes things a lot easier,” Acharya said.

According to deputy-brigadier Pasang Sherpa, the Maoist party allows and even arranges marriages for the couples who are in love with one another.

“Getting girls married to a stranger is risky as they might face violence from the husband. Similarly, problems might arise if the man ends up not liking the girl.  But so far we haven’t come across such problems among couples who got married here,” he said.

There are many former combatants who are married to a fellow combatant  in Danabani satellite camp in Chulachuli, apart from the Yanshila and Tandi camps in Morang. In the First Division alone, 500 former combatants have chosen a fellow combatant as a life partner.