KATHMANDU, AUGUST 29
Dreams to get justice have been shattered. Hopes have diminished, victims have aged, and with them, their trust in the country's rule of law has vanished.
It has been 17 years since the Comprehensive Peace Accord was signed, and the conflict victims were convinced they would get justice within 60 days of the agreement. However, justice has not been delivered yet.
A total of 64,000 petitions have been lodged at the Truth and Reconciliation Commission regarding various violations during the conflict era. However, only a few have been provided relief by the then Ministry of Peace and Reconstructions formed in 2007 after the CPA, according to victim Suman Adhikari.
Suman has been awaiting justice for over two decades now. He was 24 years when his father, late Muktinath Adhikari, was murdered in cold blood by the then CPN-Maoist cadres in Lamjung on 16 January 2002, allegedly for refusing to pay a donation. Suman has now turned 48, but nothing has been done so far.
A group of Maoist cadres had abducted Muktinath blindfolded from the classroom to a nearby hillock, tied him to a tree and stabbed him and shot him in the head. He was the principal of Panini Sanskrit School in Duradanda and also the coordinator of the local group of Amnesty International Nepal in Lamjung.
"The government is irresponsible, insensitive and dishonest regarding its commitment to resolve the issues. Particularly, the top leaders," Suman told THT. "The recently formed Law, Justice and Human Rights Parliamentary Sub-committee has also been delaying the matter rather than being sincere to their job."
Similarly, there were many forced disappearances in Nepal during the decade-long armed conflict and the unrest that ensued. A large number of civilians were disappeared by the state and the warring party, and hundreds of them are still missing, according to the Conflict Victims Community.
In point No 5.2.3 of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement, it was clearly mentioned that "both sides agree to make public within 60 days of signing of the agreement information about the real name, caste and address of the people 'disappeared' or killed during the war and to inform the family about it." But even after 17 years of the agreement, the status of the missing has not been made public.
On 9 December 2003, husband of Chandra Kala Upreti, Bhupendra Raj Upreti, was abducted by the then army. However, it has been 21 years but nothing has been heard about him. Chandra Kala is a resident of Banke, Lumbini Province. She has been constantly raising her voice to find out about the whereabouts of her forcefully disappeared husband. She is battling in the high court for justice, but she is ageing and has lost faith in the justice system.
"My husband on the evening of December 9, 2003 was forcibly abducted by the then army along with this bike. Three years later in 2006, I was called to collect the bike, but suddenly they changed their statement from 'your husband's bike to the army's bike," Upreti told THT.
A version of this article appears in the print on August 30, 2023, of The Himalayan Times.
