Kathmandu, September 27: Nepal’s Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal has said that his government is committed to establish a commission for investigating political killings that occurred during the struggle to overthrow the monarchy.
“The government is determined to establish the truth and reconciliation commission and a disappearance commission as a part of ensuring transitional justice and restoring social harmony and peace,” Mr. Nepal said during the opening session of the UN General Assembly on Saturday.
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights in Nepal, Richard Bennett, has blamed the political killings on communist insurgents. He has called on the UCPN (Maoist) to investigate several killings.
The Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) has claimed responsibility for a bus bombing that killed 50 people but no one has been prosecuted, according to Mr. Bennet.
“The practice of protecting and promoting alleged human rights violators, whether they are Nepal Army officers or members of the UCPN-(M), must end,” he writes in a letter.
“Like in every post-conflict situation, there are ups and downs and obstacles in the way. Managing the legacy of the violent past with justice and reconciliation and mainstreaming all the forces into a democratic order are major challenges before us,” Nepal’s leader said.
The Maoist revolt began in 1996 to end the monarchy and the conflict lasted for ten years.
In 2008, the three centuries old monarchy was abolished and Nepal became the world’s youngest republic. Since then the Himalayan nation has been plagued by political instability.
The key challenges that remain are drafting of a new constitution and integration of the thousands of Maoist army personnel into the army.
“We have been doing our best to accomplish these tasks through dialogue, consultations and consensus among the major political parties in the country,” the Nepalese PM said.
Recently, Karin Landgren, the special representative of the UN secretary-general for Nepal, reported that the peace process in the country had suffered setbacks
—PTI