KATHMANDU, APR 27 -
The passage of the bill on transitional justice mechanism
on Friday has facilitated the ongoing constitution drafting process
and eased the level of mistrust among major parties, leaders and
analysts have said.
The bill which paved the way for the government to form Truth and Reconciliation Commission ( TRC ) and Commission on Enforced Disappearance (CED) was a major pending task of the peace process since its inception in 2006.
The five Constituent Assembly (CA) committees are all set to start
their tasks from Monday as chairpersons of all the thematic committees
have been elected and TRC row resolved.
The bill was endorsed despite reservation from some lawmakers and
rights advocates over some provisions. As the integration and
rehabilitation of Maoist combatants has already been completed, TRC law is another “breakthrough” in the way to drafting a new constitution, cross-party leaders said.
The endorsement of the TRC
should be read through a glass of larger political process and
management of conflict rather than looking at it only from the eye of
prosecution, analysts say. The main opposition UCPN (Maoist) has put
forth TRC
as a condition to enter into the statute drafting process. Hundreds of
war-era cases which are under consideration in the regular court
procedures had often created tensions among the parties, affecting the
constitution drafting process. But the agreement on TRC
is expected to remove them in the future. “Such cases often triggered
misunderstanding among the parties which created several obstacles in
writing a new constitution,” said CPN-UML leader Bhim Rawal, who is
closely involved in the peace process. “The issues raised by rights
groups are right that there should not be pardon on serious crimes. But,
there was a need to engage the UCPN (Maoist) in the overall political
process and move ahead in the constitution drafting process.”
Not only the Maoist party, but the NC and UML leaders were also
insisting the early passage of the bill to stop the prosecution process
of war-era crimes committed by state through regular court proceedings.
As many NC and UML leaders were in the government during the Maoist
insurgency, they had a fear that they could be dragged into the court if
the TRC is not formed immediately. The Nepal Army (NA) also provided its position on the TRC
bill to Prime Minister Sushil Koirala and some top leaders of the NC
and the UML. So the two ruling parties, leaders say, have addressed the
interest of security agencies as well while preparing the bill.
Several cases of human rights violations committed by the NA and other
security agencies are under consideration in the regular court
proceedings.
“The passage of the TRC
bill is a milestone in Nepal’s ongoing peace process which will be
completed after drafting a new constitution. The progressive
restructuring of the state through a new constitution and scientific
land reform are other vital tasks of the peace process,” said senior
Maoist leader Baburam Bhattarai, who was unanimously elected as Chairman
of Political Dialogue and Consensus Committee of the CA on Friday.
It took nearly three months for the parties to prepare a bill related to TRC
and there has not been any substantial progress in the constitution
drafting process except for forming the committees and selecting their
chairpersons.
But this time around the NC, the UCPN (Maoist) and the UML braved
opposition from cross-party leaders and rights advocates joined hands to
pass the bill.
“The constitution drafting process would have been difficult if the TRC
process was further delayed,” said political analyst Muma Ram Khanal.
“This time, the NC and the UML gave precedence to the settlement of TRC with the constitution drafting process on mind.”
In March last year, President Ram Baran Yadav had endorsed an ordinance on TRC but that was subsequently rejected by the Supreme Court, ruling that that it failed to meet the international standards.
Now, leaders and analysts say it is government’s duty to form a
commission with neutral people that should address both the demands of
rights groups and the Maoist party.
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