TRC Does not Envision Blanket Amnesty

 

Prime Minister Dr Baburam Bhattarai

The Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) inked after the decade long People’s War had envisioned that all the events and cases of the civil war would be reconciled through the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) and Disappearance Commission. Therefore, all the cases of Falgun 1, 2052 BS to Mangsir 5, 2063 BS fall under the jurisdiction of TRC. As per international practises also, the cases of civil war are solved through Transitional Justice Mechanism, not through traditional criminal justice mechanism.

During the first Maoist led government under party chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’, we had initiated to form TRC. However, the Supreme Court issued direction to form TRC only after the amendment of necessary bills. Unfortunately, the government exited before making any further process. The governments formed after that merely took any interest on forming the commissions. After the formation of government under my leadership, I called the meetings of all major parties and with their consent and inputs from lawyers, human right activists and civil society, we prepared the draft of bill required to form TRC. Earlier, we had envisioned to from TRC and Disappearance Commission separately but after consultations and various suggestions from concerned parties, we decided to incorporate both commissions in a single commission. We were also in the process to present the draft of bill in legislative parliament but unfortunately the legislative parliament was dissolved. Later, the government, through cabinet of ministers forwarded, the already agreed draft, without even changing a single full stop or comma, to President to pass the ordinance. However, the ordinance has not been passed by the President yet. This has delayed the investigation process of the incidents and cases of civil war. Instead of pressing the President to pass the TRC related ordinance soon, the cases of armed conflict are being raised to create a charged atmosphere which is completely against the CPA. The arrest of Colonel Kumar Lama in UK and the arrest of those involved in the murder of Dekendra Thapa are intended to create propaganda. In both cases, we strongly believe that all the cases of civil war should be reconciled through TRC. We want to make it clear that reconciliation through TRC does not mean pardoning all the cases of armed conflict.

There is a speculation that the TRC will not meet the international standards. We also want to make it clear that through grave discussion and homework, we have prepared the draft of TRC to meet the international standards. There is no such provision of general amnesty like hyped of others. There will be a commission to fairly investigate the cases of armed conflict. First of the commission will try to reconcile the case with consent of the victim. If the victim is not satisfied then there is a provision to file a case against the culprit with the suggestion of the victim. It is clearly mentioned in the draft of the TRC that such standards are incorporated. The TRC will give full justice to all the victims of armed conflict.

If we look at the international cases, the TRC was successfully used to solve the cases in South Africa. Learning from them, we can apply it to our country as well. Unnecessarily raising the cases of the armed conflict would only push the nation towards another conflict. Therefore, we should all act responsibly. The government and the Maoists party is committed to provide justice to all the victims of civil war.

http://www.onlinegreatway.com/2013/02/26/55184.html