KATHMANDU, MARCH 26

Lawmakers representing the CPN-UML and Rastriya Prajatantra Party opposed provisions of the Truth and Reconciliation Act (Amendment) Bill saying that the bill lacked provisions to ensure justice for conflict victims.

Taking part in the theoretical debate on the TRC Bill in the HoR today, UML lawmaker Raghuji Panta said the bill provisioned a two-year tenure for transitional justice mechanisms, but since there were 60,000 complaints lodged at the transitional mechanisms, the two-year tenure may not be enough. Panta said the bill's provision for a special court on the recommendation of the Judicial Council was flawed and hence special court should be formed in accordance with the constitutional provision that governs the formation of the high courts.

He also said some of the provisions of the bill went against the Supreme Court's verdict which said there could be no amnesty for serious human rights violations. He also added it was wrong of the government to give holiday on People's War Day.

CPN-UML Whip Mahesh Bartaula said the TRC Bill needed to be amended to ensure that victims got justice.

He said if the bill was passed in its current form, serious human rights violators could get off with just half-an-hour jail time.

Another UML lawmaker Padam Giri said if the bill was passed in its current form, it would violate international humanitarian law and that would not be acceptable to the international community. He said all murders were brutal and hence the categorisation of murder only as human rights violation was wrong. He said murder should be listed under serious human rights violation case.

RPP lawmaker Gyan Bahadur Shahi said the bill was flawed as it allowed amnesty for criminal offence, which was also against the precedent set by the Supreme Court.

Rastriya Janamorcha lawmaker Chitra Bahadur KC said that the bill should not be passed in a hurry or else the new generation would not accept the resolution. He said his party cadres had no role in the Maoist insurgency but they were killed by the state and their families should get justice.

Aam Janata Party lawmaker Prabhu Sah said that criminal justice and transitional justice were two different issues. He said if Maoists accepted their responsibility for the people's war, the state and particularly the leadership of the government had not yet accepted its responsibility. He also said that it was because of the people's war that current political gains became possible.

CPN-MC lawmaker Janardan Sharma said that the TRC bill was aimed at ensuring justice for conflict victims and it was all parties' responsibility to pass the TRC bill. He also said the people's war was a movement for forward looking change which changed the situation of Dalits, women, indigenous nationalities, Madhesis and other marginalised groups for the better.

Members of the House of Representatives said that the Truth and Reconciliation Act (Amendment) Bill should be passed only after holding discussions with all stakeholders, particularly conflict victims and human rights activists.

Nepali Congress lawmaker Arjun Narsingh KC said that being one of the drafters of the Comprehensive Peace Accord, he was clear that Nepal's peace process should be based on South Africa and reconciliation should be the main objective of the bill.

'Revenge should not be the motive of our peace process and victims should get enough compensation and reparation,'

KC said and added that the bill should be passed only after wider consultation with all stakeholders, including the victims and human rights activists.

A version of this article appears in the print on March 27, 2023, of The Himalayan Times.