Leaders from the three major political parties on Monday agreed to conclude the bill to amend the Enforced Disappearances Enquiry, Truth and Reconciliation Commission Act through the next House session.

During a meeting held at the prime minister’s residence in Baluwatar, top leaders of the Nepali Congress, CPN-UML and the CPN (Maoist Centre) discussed the bill and reached an understanding to settle it through the next session of the Parliament. However, parties have yet to resolve their differences on various provisions of the bill.

Although there was no agreement on the contentious provisions of the bill in Monday’s discussion, the parties agreed to finalise the bill through the next session of the Parliament, said Mahesh Bartaula, CPN-UML whip.

“The meeting held at the invitation of the prime minister ended positively. The government and all the three parties have agreed to finalise the bill as soon as possible,” Bartaula said. “The bill will be taken ahead and concluded through the next session of the Parliament. But top leaders need to discuss the issue again.”

Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba and UML Chairman KP Sharma Oli along with other senior leaders of the three parties attended the meeting convened by Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal.

With hardly a month remaining before the terms of the two transitional justice commissions expire, political parties are still struggling to finalise the bill.

The top leaders took up the matter after cross-party lawmakers from the Law, Justice and Human Rights Committee of the House of Representatives didn’t budge from their respective positions on Friday, and sought a nod from the top leaders of the major political parties on the knotty issue.