Kathmandu, Nepal, November 19, 2019: The victims of the decade long conflicts have casted a doubt that to be reconstituted Transitional Justice (TJ) bodies would not deliver justice to them.
As the committee formed by the government has made a preparation to recommend the old names of the TJ bodies, the conflict victims, who have been waiting for justice for decades, have begun to term that they would be cheated once again by the government by entrusting the incompetent persons with the responsibility of providing justice to them.
The recommendation committee headed by former chief justice Om Prakash Mishra has suggested the government to reappoint almost all the ex office-bearers of the TJ bodies. How and when the ex office-bearers can deliver justice to since they have already failed to settle conflict-era cases despite their four years stay in the offices, the conflict victims have said.
Though the final decision is not taken yet, the government has been preparing to appoint the ex- office bearers of the two TJ bodies- Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) and Commission of Investigation on Enforced Disappeared Commission (CIEDP). The committee has on Monday published a list of 61 aspiring candidates giving priority to the ex- office bearers.
It is claimed that Nepali Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba has given consent to the government to form the TJ bodies by retaining the old office bearers.
As per the so-called understanding, there will be only two new appointments at the TRC, Ganesh Datta Bhatta as chair and Gangadhar Adhikari as member retaining rest of other three old members--Madhavi Bhatta, Shree Krishna Subedi and Manchala Jha.
Likewise in the CIEDP, Lokendra Mallick would retain as its chairperson while Bishnu Pathak, Bijul Kumar Bishwakarma, Nara Kumari Gurung and Aai Bahadur Gurung will continue as members.
The conflict victims have not only doubt over the performance of the ex office bearers but also demanded that the appointments be made only after amendment to the Enforced Disappearances Enquiry, Truth and Reconciliation Commission Act-2014.
Both the organization of conflict victims- Conflict Victims Common Platform and Conflict Victims National Alliance have a common view that the basis of appointing the office bearers of the TJ bodies should be performance and competence but not the sharing among the political parties and leaders.
