Kathmandu, April 8

Truth and Reconciliation Commission member Madhabi Bhatta has demanded that no ex-Maoist fighter is kept in the sub-committee recently set up for selecting members for an oversight mechanism to screen complaints from the conflict victims.

Bhatta said many conflict victims strongly objected to induction of ex-Maoist fighters in the committee. At least three ex-Maoist fighters, including those facing murder charge, have been inducted in the mechanism, she said. The nine-member sub-committee is led by TRC member Manchala Jha.

TRC is all set to collect complaints from the victims of decade-long Maoist insurgency beginning April 17 and has asked the district peace committees across the country to coordinate the task. Jha-led sub-committee is mandated to select representatives of the conflict-victims in the over-sight mechanism, which will monitor the impartiality and fairness of the district peace committees’ works.

In a letter to TRC Chairman Surya Kiran Gurung, Bhatta demanded a through inquiry to find if any ex-Maoist combatant is inducted in the Jha-led body, which is supposed to be neutral and impartial. “Induction of ex-Maoist fighters in such body only raises question over the impartiality of TRC’s works and diminish its credibility,” she wrote in the letter.

Bhatta said she received complaint that at least two former Maoist combatants — Nisha Neupane and Bhakta Raja — are sub-committee members and another ex-fighter Ramesh Shrestha was allegedly involved in criminal activities and facing criminal charges.

It is learnt that another member Krishna Thapaliya was also involved in the insurgency.

Talking to this daily, Chairman Gurung said TRC would investigate if any ex-fighter is inducted in the sub-committee. He also assured that such members would be expelled.

In a recent interview with The Himalayan Times, Neupane of Chitwan had admitted that she was a Maoist soldier but claimed that she was also a victim, as her father was forcibly disappeared by the state. “I wasn’t involved in any criminal offence,” she had claimed.

The issue was raised during a recent Central Working Committee meeting of main opposition Nepali Congress, where CWC members Dilendra Prasad Badu and Jivan Bahadur Shahi had stated that ex-fighters should not be inducted in any TRC instruments. “Induction of ex-fighters allegedly involved in criminal acts and facing charges in courts wouldn’t help provide justice to the victims,” NC CWC member Shahi said.