Baglung, Oct. 23 -- Five days after the blast, Surendra Khatri regained consciousness at Gandaki Hospital in Pokhara. Both his hands were gone.

Unable to tell whether he was dreaming or awake, he panicked and began screaming. His family broke down in tears, but nothing could change the reality. At 20, his dream of joining the Indian Army had ended, along with his family's hopes for his future.

Khatri, from Mangala Rural Municipality-2 in Myagdi district, was neither a Maoist fighter nor a member of the security forces. Yet he became a victim of Nepal's armed conflict.

On June 26, 2006, he was grazing goats in a field near his home in Babiyachaur when he spotted a plastic packet. Curious about its contents, he tried to open it. The pack...