Kathmandu, June 21

Conflict Victims’ Common Platform today wrote a letter to Om Prakash Mishra, who leads the committee to nominate office bearers of Truth and Reconciliation Committee and Commission of Investigation on Enforced Disappeared Persons, to ensure that professional office bearers are nominated for the two transitional justice mechanisms.

CVCP stated that it would not accept appointment of the office bearers if  TRC Act was not amended as per the decision of the Supreme Court. In one of the verdicts, the SC said there could be no amnesty in serious human rights violations.

CVCP added that the two transitional justice mechanisms had remained ineffective due to the government’s failure to amend the TRC Act as per the spirit of the Supreme Court verdict. It stated that the government’s attempt to send party loyalists to the two transitional justice mechanisms was another reason why the TRC and CIEDP had failed to deliver justice.

A rumour has been doing the rounds that the nomination committee was preparing to appoint party loyalists in the two transitional bodies. If that happens then the two bodies will again fail to provide justice to victims, stated CVCP.

CVCP urged political parties and the government to take further action on transitional justice issue only with the consent of all stakeholders, including conflict victims. It urged the nomination committee to appoint office bearers of the two transitional bodies from among professional experts who can perform their duties without being influenced or coerced by anybody. It also urged the government to withdraw its judicial review petition filed in the Supreme Court so that it could immediately initiate the process of amending the TRC Act.

CVCP has also sent carbon copies of its letters to Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli, Co-chair of Nepal Communist Party (NCP) Pushpa Kamal Dahal and Nepali Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba.