A case was filed against Minister for Forest and Soil Conservation Agni Prasad Sapkota, a Maoist leader, and seven others, including former Maoist minister Surya Man Dong, at the Truth and Reconciliation Commission on Tuesday, accusing them of murdering Arjun Lama, a school teacher of Kavre district.

Lama, 48, was abducted in 2005 by a group of Maoist cadres. Purnimaya Lama, his wife, claims that he was killed at the behest of Sapkota. Lama’s body was never found. 

“The perpetrators must be brought to justice,” she told the Post. 

About two dozen conflict victims, who suffered at the hands of the state and then rebel Maoists, on Tuesday were present at the TRC office. 

But not all conflict victims are hopeful of justice. Girish Giri, a journalist, whose father Gopal Giri, then mayor of Birgunj, was shot dead by the Maoists in 2004, also filed his complaint at the TRC. “I am not hopeful of justice,” he said.

“However, we are supporting the process hoping that the state will set a precedent so that such incidents do not occur in future,” he said. 

About two dozen conflict victims on Tuesday showed up at the commission office at Babarmahal on the call of the Conflict Victims Common Platform, a national network of conflict victims, who suffered at the hands of state as well as rebel.

Suman Adhikari, chairperson of the Platform said that they want to test the commitment and will power to deliver justice. "We want to engage with the state in the process through commission," said Adhikari, "The commissions, which were set up almost two years ago, are not well prepared to register complaints from the victims, let alone delivery of justice."

The rebel Maoists took his father Muktinath Adhikari, headmaster of Padmini Sanskrit Higher Secondary School in Lamjung district, tied him to a tree with his scarf and shot at the head in 2002. Suman has since moved the family to Kathmandu.

Suman argued that the registration of complaints should be taken as victims' support to the state. "It is upto the commissions whether they retain our trust to the state. But the state should not test our patience," he said.