Three international human rights organisations that recently raised concerns over alleged government pressure on senior Supreme Court justices did not appear before a parliamentary committee on Wednesday despite being invited for a discussion.

The Law, Justice and Human Rights Committee of the House of Representatives had invited representatives of Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) to discuss their joint statement alleging threats to judicial independence in Nepal.

The committee began the discussion at 9:30am. Law Minister Sobita Gautam, Supreme Court Chief Registrar Bimal Paudel, constitutional experts Bipin Adhikari and Khimlal Devkota, among others, attended the meeting.

However, representatives of the three rights organisations did not attend.

Committee chair Samikshya Baskota said representatives of Amnesty International and the ICJ had earlier informed the committee that they would participate, but none of the three organisations sent representatives to the meeting.

The three organisations issued a joint statement in the last week of July warning of what they described as growing political interference in Nepal’s judiciary. Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) said recent government actions, including changes to the Constitutional Council Act through an ordinance, could weaken judicial independence and undermine the rule of law.

The groups criticised the amendment, saying changes to the council’s quorum and voting provisions could increase political influence over appointments to key constitutional positions, including the chief justice. They also questioned the appointment of Manoj Kumar Sharma as chief justice, saying it departed from the convention of appointing the senior-most serving justice.

The organisations said they had received credible reports that three senior Supreme Court justices, Sapana Pradhan Malla, Kumar Regmi and Hari Phuyal, were pressured to resign under the threat of impeachment. They said they were not aware of any publicly stated allegations against the judges that met the constitutional threshold for impeachment.

They warned that using impeachment threats without clear constitutional grounds could create the perception that parliamentary procedures were being used to influence the composition of the court and affect pending constitutional cases. The groups urged the government to protect judicial independence and ensure appointments and reforms follow transparent and merit-based processes.