IN the second attempt, the body of Dil Bahadur Gurung, who was killed in an attack in Afghanistan, was brought to Tribhuvan international airport, but with a different name. The casket containing Gurung’s body had a tag that read “Narayan Bahadur Thapa”, one among the four killed in the attack. Gurung’s elder brother Jhaula broke down at the airport on Friday, when he saw the casket. “This time we made sure the body inside the casket was that of Dil’s,” said Hukum Bahadur Gurung, Dil’s brother-inlaw.

“Thursday evening we found that the corpse there was not his.” Hukum was referring to the incident when Dil’s body was slated to arrive on Thursday. What did arrive was the name while the corpse within the casket was another’s. The error in the process protracted the Gurungs’ wait for their loved one’s body for funeral rites. The body was cremated on Friday at Ramghat, Pokhara, where hundreds of well-wishers streamed in to pay their last respects. Dil is survived by two sons, a daughter and his wife. Of the four Nepalis who were slain by an angry mob at the UN Assistance Mission office in northern Afganisthan, three—Min Bahadur Thapa of Tanahun’s Belchautara, Chabi Lal Purja of Myagdi, Narayan Bahadur Thapa of Butwal—were killed on the spot on April 1 while Dil succumbed to his injuries the following day. All four bodies have arrived home.

Published on: 16 April 2011 | The Kathmandu Post