Give fair justice

The Himalayan Times

9 February 2017

Give fair justice

Conflict victims of the decade long insurgency have been waiting for justice from the state. The government had formed the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) and the Commission of Investigation on Enforced Disappeared Persons (CIEDP) two years ago. All the members were picked and nominated under the major parties’ quota system. And, now the process of one year extension of these bodies tenure is in progress. However, conflict victims have cast doubts over their efficacies because of their political affiliations “Conflict victims question TRC’s efficacy” (THT, 7 Feb. Page 1). Both the commissions have not yet been able to produce any concrete results even after collecting thousands of conflict era complaints from the affected people.

Internal rifts among the members of these transitional justice bodies being surfaced from time to time does not give a positive indication of its capabilities of settling Maoist insurgency-era pending cases soon. Both TRC and CIEDP have completely failed so far to investigate such complaints. It was said from the very beginning of their formations that they should be free from the political interferences. Having said that, they could not be free from the major parties’ political influences and they have not been able to perform according to domestic laws and international norms and practices. People have started saying that unless these bodies are kept free from major parties political influence, it does not make any sense to extend their terms for another one year.

The law pertaining to these bodies is yet to be amended for them to act properly. The government is still reluctant to enact the laws and equip these bodies with necessary human resources and other logistics. For these reasons, these bodies will continue to be inactive. As a result, the victims will not get fair justice prompting to enmity against the state and the perpetrators. If this situation arises, the chances of social disharmony among the people start surfacing causing the community to disintegrate. Time has come for the government and major political parties to be serious and committed to make these bodies free from their political influences, enact the laws and equip them with adequate human resources at the soonest possible.

Rai Biren Bangdel

Maharjgunj, Kathmandu