In the first week of May, the Balendra Shah government, through an ordinance, relieved hundreds of officials from universities, commissions and several other political positions. Among them were the 10 office-bearers of the two transitional justice bodies—five each from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and the Commission of Investigation on Enforced Disappeared Persons.

While replacements in most of the other vacant positions have either been made or are in the process, no concrete initiative has been taken to fill these two mechanisms. The transitional justice process has long been a victim of political meddling, pushing thousands of victims of atrocities committed during the 1996-2006 Maoist insurgency, by both the state and the then insurgents, to the receiving end.

The two commissions, ever since their constitution in 2015, have had three sets of office-bearers, with each appointment mired in controversy as the selection lacked proper consultation. The appointment of the last set of office-bearers in May last year, too, was not without controversy. A section of conflict victims and human rights defenders had strong reservations about the selection process and therefore boycotted engagement with them. They had even welcomed the Shah government's move to dismantle the commissions.

However, three months down the line, they are the ones most dissatisfied with the present government's approach. The government has kept them completely out of the consultation process. Instead of taking the initiative to engage with the victims, it has ignored their repeated calls for dialogue. Even after weeks had passed, a group of victims submitted a written request seeking a meeting with Minister for Law and Justice Sobita Gautam, but received no response. Left with no alternative, they resorted to demonstrations last week, but these too have had little impact on the government's approach.

It has already been two decades since the Comprehensive Peace Accord was signed and over a decade since the transitional justice process began. Yet, there has been no substantive progress in delivering justice to the insurgency victims. They have been deceived by successive governments led by the Nepali Congress, CPN-UML and CPN (Maoist Centre)—now united under the Nepali Communist Party—in rotation. It was evident that these parties, particularly the Congress and the Maoists, were linked to atrocities committed during the decade-long conflict, while the UML sought to use the issue for political gain.

Now that the Rastriya Swatantra Party, with no baggage from the insurgency, is in power, it has an opportunity to conclude the long-stalled process once and for all. For that to happen, every step it takes must be transparent and consultative. Refraining from meeting the victims goes entirely against what needs to be done.

The government should, without any further delay, constitute a search committee to select office-bearers for the commissions, with proper consultation and information-sharing with the concerned stakeholders. The search committee must be allowed to perform independently, adopting a fully consultative and transparent selection process. Once the commissions have leadership, they should be equipped with the necessary financial and human resources. Concluding investigations into over 83,000 complaints lodged with the two commissions requires proper state support. Previous governments have tested the victims’ patience enough; the present government cannot afford to repeat the same mistake.