Kathmandu, August 15

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission has put pressure on Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal to amend the TRC Act and come up with a new law criminalising torture for resolving war-era cases swiftly.

A TRC delegation led by its Chairman Surya Kiran Gurung today met PM Dahal and requested him to allocate adequate budget for the transitional justice instrument.

PM Dahal, who was accompanied by Deputy PM Bimalendra Nidhi and Law and Justice Minister Ajay Shankar Nayak during the meeting, said early resolution of pending war-era cases was one of the priorities of his government and assured the delegation that he would leave no stone unturned to support TRC for its effective functioning.

Meanwhile, the PM made it clear that there would be no blanket amnesty in cases of gross rights violation during the war-era and those responsible would be brought to justice, said Gurung.

Dahal said a draft bill to revise the TRC Act was prepared by the erstwhile government and he would push it to the Parliament for enactment.

Gurung impressed upon Dahal the need to enact a law required to criminalise torture, amend the TRC Act to define some crimes, and to scrap the statute of limitation for rape, especially for incidents of rape that were committed during the decade-long Maoist insurgency.

Talking to The Himalayan Times, Attorney General Raman Kumar Shrestha, who was present during the meeting, also reiterated that there would be no amnesty for the perpetrators of serious crimes, including rape and extra-judicial killing.

Meanwhile, Truth and Reconciliation Commission member Madhabi Bhatta has urged Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal to do the needful to save the life of Gangamaya Adhikari, who has been staging hunger strike, seeking action against those who killed her son Krishna Prasad Adhikari.

Krishna Prasad Adhikari, a resident of Fujel VDC of Gorkha district, was killed by Maoist cadres on June 6, 2004.

Attorney General Raman Kumar Shrestha, who was present during the meeting, said Gangamaya has to choose to resolve this case through a regular court or the TRC.