Nepal, April 11 -- I was six years old when my father was killed. It was on October 28, 1997 during the armed conflict in Nepal. A group of Maoist combatants came to our home in Rolpa and shot him. He was unarmed. He had returned home on holiday to see his family. He served as a Police Head Constable.

My father was targeted not because of a personal dispute, but because of his duty. At the time, he was assigned as a guard to a State Minister. On one occasion, he had fired a bullet into the air to prevent the kidnapping of a local village leader, "Mukhiya." He was performing his responsibility as a security officer. I share this because I do not want his memory to be misunderstood. He was doing his job.

My earliest memory of that night ...