Muktinath Adhikari Memorial Foundation and Amnesty International Nepal jointly organized a memorial and interaction programme on 17 January 2022 to mark the 20th anniversary of the brutal killing of Muktinath Adhikari.
On 16 January 2002, Muktinath Adhikari was brutally murdered by the then CPN (Maoist) cadres in Lamjung for allegedly refusing to pay donations. A group of Maoist cadres had barged into the classroom where he was teaching Science, and then abducted him in blindfold in front of his wailing and terror-stricken beloved students who were all pleading for his safety. He was taken to a nearby hillock in the village, tied to a tree with his muffler and rope, and then shot in the head and chest. He was the former head teacher at Panini Sanskrit Secondary School in Duradanda and the coordinator of Amnesty International Nepal Teachers’ Group-79, Lamjung.
The memorial programme started with the offering of garland and flowers to a portrait of late Adhikari by his wife Indira Adhikari.
The memorial event held on virtual space brought together the Adhikari family and relatives, contemporary friends, human rights activists, journalists, civil society members to pay tributes to late Adhikari in memory of his social service, human rights activism and for his selfless and generous heart.
Gagan Thapa, General Secretary of Nepali Congress and a member of the Parliament also joined the event to pay tribute to late Adhikari. Thapa committed, as a leader in a position of responsibility, to try and do things in consultation with the concerned stakeholders towards resolving the outstanding issues of truth, justice, and reparation in Nepal.
While relatives, students and friends of Adhikari recalled the ruthless manner in which his life was seized including through the recitation of poems, others speaking at the event expressed their views dwelling on the topic “Awaiting Justice for 20 years: When will the State be accountable?”
The programme that was hosted physically at the office of Amnesty International Nepal with the presence of the Adhikari family, was simultaneously organized online on Zoom platform and livestreamed on Facebook. The recorded livestream can be viewed here.
Every year, an event is organized to observe the Muktinath Adhikari Memorial Day to pay tributes to late Adhikari and to raise voices for justice and for holding the State to account for this and several other heinous crimes and human rights violations committed during the conflict in Nepal.