Amid prolonged delays in constituting a committee to nominate bearers for the transitional justice commissions, the CPN (Maoist Centre) has called for immediate action to this effect.

Addressing the House of Representatives Wednesday, CPN (Maoist Centre) Chief Whip Hit Raj Pandey said his party demands appointment of the chairpersons and members in the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and the Commission of Investigation on Enforced Disappeared Persons.

“The commissions are vacant months after the Act (the Enforced Disappearances Enquiry, Truth and Reconciliation Commission Act) was amended,” he said. “Forming the commission is a must to heal the pain of the victims.”

After long negotiations among the major parties, the federal parliament amended the Act in August 2024, more than nine years after the Supreme Court turned down numbers of amnesty provisions in it. Two months later, the government on October 18 formed a five-member panel coordinated by former chief justice Om Prakash Mishra to recommend names for the two chairpersons and eight members for the two commissions combined.

However, owing to sheer differences over the names, the Mishra-led panel failed to accomplish its job within the deadline. It exhausted its tenure in mid-December last year. Around three months passed, the government has taken no serious effort in forming a new panel.

“The Mishra-led committee failed as it gave little say to the political leadership in the selection process,” said a top official at the Prime Minister's Office. “Perhaps political leadership wants to ensure it has proper say in the recommendation process before constituting the selection panel. As far as I know, there have been no serious discussions to this effect.”

The victims from the 1996-2006 insurgency say delay in the appointment process is not just an apathy towards them but also a disrespect to the Supreme Court order. Passing a verdict on a writ petition in March last year, the court had said the government cannot leave the commissions vacant any longer.

“We are very much concerned about the government’s indifference towards the transitional justice process,” said Gopal Bahadur Shah, chairperson of the Conflict Victims National Network. “There is no information as to when the new selection panel is formed.” He said they have been lobbying the political leadership to take their plight seriously.

“All leaders, irrespective of their parties, say they are serious, but that doesn’t translate to actions,” he said.

The two commissions have been inactive since July 2022 after the government decided to extend their terms without retaining their chairmen and members. The government had claimed the bill to amend the transitional justice law would be endorsed by October 2022 and the appointments be made based on the Act. However, it took around two more years for the amendment.

Those closely following the process believe that, as a politico-legal matter, the transitional justice process cannot advance without broad agreement among the three major parties. Of late, the growing acrimony between the CPN-UML and the Maoist Centre has hindered the tripartite dialogue, delaying progress.

“It is interesting that those (Maoist leaders) who might be dragged in prosecution are constantly pressing for appointment but others (the Congress and the UML) are indifferent,” said Tika Dhakal, advisor to former President Bidya Devi Bhandari, who has closely followed the process. “Formation of the recommendation committee should not be further delayed on any pretext.”

Formed in February 2015 to investigate war-era crimes and atrocities, the truth commission has received 63,718 complaints. Similarly, the disappearances commission has around 2,500 complaints to investigate and find out whereabouts of the people forcibly disappeared by the Maoist and the state security forces.