Raj Kumar Malla of Walting VDC-3, Kavre, was whisked away by Maoist combatants while he was milking a cow during the Maoist insurgency on February 16, 1999 and shot to death on the charge of spying. His wife Mitthu, 23, became mentally disturbed as she could not bear the loss of her husband. After her father’s death and her mother’s disturbed mental state, Sharmila Malla, who was studying in grade II at the local Saraswoti Primary School, left her house as there was no one to feed and fend her. Sharmila’s disappearance had her teachers worried. Locals, relatives and teachers searched for her, but to no avail. She has not returned home till date. Raj Kumar Puri, 11, his brother Shambhu Puri, 5, and their friend Raju Giri,10, of Sanyasigaun at Deupur VDC-9 left the village when Maoists insurgents asked them the whereabouts of the Puri brothers’ father at gunpoint. They had left the village in school uniform. They were students of Brahmayani Lower Secondary School. A few days later, it was reported that the Puris’ father Gyanu was sliced to death on the premises of Dedithumka Secondary School. It is presumed that the Puri brothers did not return home after they heard the news of their father’s death. As many as nine children like Sharmila, Raj Kumar, and Shambhu are yet to return home due to the terror that had then spread in Kavre. At a program organized at district headquarters Dhulikhel recently, relatives and family members said that nine out of 13 children who were missing from their villages were yet to return home. According to the District Child Welfare Committee, as many as 74 children below the age of 16 were at risk as their parents/guardians had been killed by the insurgents. For want of protectors, the children had to quit their studies. Social worker Rama Koirala said the conflict had destroyed the lives of children. It had ruined their hope and growth and pushed their lives into a dark abyss. As many as 12 children were abducted while they were on the way to school when five students were killed in a bomb explosion during the insurgency in Kavre. Data at the District Administration Office showed that a total of 21 children were killed during the insurgency in the district.