The failure of Prime Minister and defence minister Girija Prasad Koirala, home minister Krishna Prasad Sitaula and chief of army staff Rookmangud Katawal to be present on Monday at the meeting of the parliamentary committee on human rights and social justice has sent wrong signals. The trio had been invited to clarify on the suspected find of mass graves of Maoists in Shivapuri National Park, an area under the army’s jurisdiction. Though the committee members have agreed to reschedule the meeting, the public does not know yet whether the reasons for their absence were more important than their obligation to attend the meeting. However, the defence secretary, Baman Prasad Neupane, told the committee that it was the job of the police, not the army, to investigate crime or to provide security. Prima facie evidences (clothing, plastic pieces, and half-burned logs) were found last week in that area that led human rights organisations to suspect that 49 Maoists held in Bhairavnath battalion, who have been missing for the past four years, had been killed and burned up or buried there.

The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has forwarded samples of the material collected for forensic tests to the Nepal Academy of Science and Technology and the TU Teaching Hospital, and, it is reported, samples may also be sent to a foreign country for lab tests, if need be. The committee summoned them because it thought they were not cooperating fully with the NHRC inquiry into the suspected slaughter. NHRC and the office of the UN high commissioner for human rights (OHCHR) have already requested the government to safeguard the site, so that the evidences may remain intact. While the defence secretary shifted responsibility to the police, the home secretary, Umesh Mainali, told the committee on Saturday that the home ministry could not deploy the police at the site as the area fell under the army’s jurisdiction. Then the question arises, how can the investigation proceed? Unless full investigation into the matter is started and its final report comes out, nobody should be prejudged. But the investigation must proceed unobstructed, and needs to be fair, impartial and independent.

As the army itself is the suspect, there is no question that it should conduct the inquiry — but it is supposed to lend full cooperation with the inquiry. The police should be pressed into service, indeed any individual or agency that could help in some way with the task. But the findings need to be credible. Otherwise, the reputation of the government would be at stake, particularly of Koirala because of his personal position in government, as well as his party’s. Buck-passing among government agencies would not do. If the government does not take enough interest in the matter, it might be necessary for world rights bodies to ensure that the curiosity about the suspected crime against humanity is satisfied. If guilt is proved, the guilty must not be let off. Flimsy arguments, such as the ‘morale’ or the ‘sensitive nature’ of the security forces or of anything, often cited in the past for the wrong reasons, should not be cited again.