I went visiting families of the "disappeared" myself a while ago. Bhim Bahadur Basnet, who farms a hectare of riverine land in western Nepal, told me about the anguish of losing his son, Keshab, 19 months ago and having no contact since then. Keshab was accused of being Maoist by the police and arrested but somewhere along the line, he "disappeared". Despite witnesses to his arrest, the police have told the courts that they’ve never heard of him. Bhim’s Hindu faith has kept him going this far, praying daily for his son’s return, but the old man told me with tears in his eyes, "all this praying to God, I wonder if God hasn’t disappeared from this place as well".