Kathmandu, March 17

The Rastriya Janata Party-Nepal, which recently withdrew its support to the government, obstructed the House of Representatives proceedings today demanding that the government make public a report on cases of human rights violations during Madhes and Tharuhat movements in 2015 and 2016.

A probe commission led by former Supreme Court justice Girish Chandra Lal had submitted the report to the government on 15 December 2017.

This is the second time the party has obstructed the House for the same reason.

Previously, the party had obstructed HoR proceedings on March 13, after which Speaker Krishna Bahadur Mahara had issued a ruling to the government to make public the report as early as possible.

But the government has yet to do so.

When the HoR meeting began at 3:00pm, RJP-N lawmakers stood up. The speaker then allowed RJP-N lawmaker Laxman Lal Karna to speak. He criticised the government for its failure to make public the report. After Karna’s speech, RJP-N lawmakers again stood up, forcing the speaker to halt the proceedings for 10 minutes.

The speaker then adjourned the House till tomorrow after RJP-N lawmakers vowed to halt House proceedings till the government made the report public.

In his address, Karna said the government deceived Madhesis and Tharus. “Although these movements, like other movements in Nepal, were political, the government is discriminating against Madhesis and Tharus. It agreed to release jailed Madhesi and Tharu people, but didn’t do so,” he said. Karna regretted that the court had slapped Resham Chaudhary life term, although he was elected to the House of Representatives by the people.

Stating that the government ignored the speaker’s ruling on making public the Lal Commission report, Karna said they were confused whether the Parliament was supreme or the government.

Mahara said since he had already asked the government to make public the report, he expected it to be made public soon.

The government had formed the commission on 18 September 2016 to investigate the killings and violent incidents that took place during protests in the Tarai. The commission had begun its investigation on October 17.

The probe commission had prepared the report after visiting the incident sites and holding interaction with witnesses, victims’ families and rights activists. The commission had also held interactions with intelligentsia in Tikapur, Janakpur, Rajbiraj and Biratnagar.