Kathmandu, February 13:

Former Supreme Court Justice Laxman Prasad Aryal today said that the Person Disappearance (Crime and Punishment) Ordinance, 2009, was against the principle adopted by the Interim Constitution.

He also added that implementation of the Ordinance would promote impunity if the constitution was not amended.

Aryal also said that this would not be able to punish those responsible in the crime against humanity during the time of a-decade long conflict.

“This is against the principle adopted by the Interim Constitution of Nepal,

2007,” Aryal said.

According to him, the Constitution does not allow to punish anyone involved in the crime occurred in the past by promulgating a new law.

“Such a retrospective law is against the letter and spirit of the Constitution,” Aryal, who was the chairman of the Interim Constitution Drafting Committee, said.

“Ultimately, this would promote the state of impunity in the country,” Aryal said, adding, “This would set free all the culprits from court of law as such an Act cannot provide justice to the past crime,” he added.

Aryal was addressing a programme on Problem of State of Impunity and Ordinance on Disappearance, organised by Forum for Democracy and Human Rights, a rights NGO.

The Former Justice, however, suggested the government and the parliament to produce the ordinance in the parliament and to introduce a Constitution amendment bill to incorporate the retrospective principle in the Interim Constitution.

“Since the Ordinance has been issued in a wrong manner, there is no way but

to amend the Constitution in order to punish those involved in the disappearance cases,” he added.

CA member and former law minister Nilambar Acharya lamented the Ordinance

stating that this is nothing but has intention of attacking the rule of law. NHRC Commissioner Gauri Pradhan expressed dissatisfaction over the process through which the government introduced the ordinance. “The government even ignored our suggestions,” Pradhan added.