Kathmandu, February 5

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission today formally wrote to the government to extend its tenure by one year. The commission said additional time was needed to complete the given assignments.

“We have forwarded a written request to the Ministry of Peace and Reconstruction seeking TRC’s term extension,” TRC member Madhabi Bhatta told THT. She said a meeting of the TRC secretariat held in Kathmandu had decided to write to the ministry, which would forward the proposal to the Council of Ministers.

She said without TRC recommendation the government could not take a decision on its term.

According to the constitution, the Cabinet can extend TRC’s tenure by one year. Bhatta said only the Parliament could take a decision if TRC’s tenure was required to be extended further.

The term of TRC, which was set up on 10 February 2015 with a two-year mandate to probe insurgency-era rights violation cases and recommend to the government necessary action against perpetrators and reparation for victims, expires on February 9.

The commission has to investigate more than 58,052 complaints of rights violation that allegedly took place during the decade-long Maoist insurgency.

The meeting of the commission held on January 29 had decided to propose to the government to extend its term.

The commission was supposed to recommend extension of its term earlier but a rift among its members delayed the decision.