A dispute between the TRC commissioners surfaced after a meeting of the commission on Thursday decided to remove Commissioner Madhavi Bhatta from the responsibility of spokesperson of the commission.
According to a TRC source, the meeting on Thursday decided that only the chairman of the commission will look after media relations for the commission, while the other members will need to consult the chairman before dealing with the media.
Bhatta claimed that she was removed from the responsibility of spokesperson as she had tried to submit a written proposal that the commission should investigate the use of minors and children in armed conflict.
Bhatta tried to lodge a note of dissent on the decision to relieve her of the responsibility of spokesperson, and she raised the issue again at Sunday's meeting. "Today (Sunday), I again raised voice that the commission should be transparent, and the chairman himself threatened not to give me any responsibility in future. When I told him that the TRC Act does not allow him to do this, he said he would take a formal decision through the commission," claimed Bhatta.
According to Bhatta, the TRC was planning to visit Bandarmudhe in Chitwan, where a passenger bus was ambushed by the rebel Maoists during their insurgency. But a decision was later taken to cancel the visit. "The move to remove me from my responsibility began immediately after news [about the cancellation] was published in media," said Bhatta.
Bhatta has also raised serious questions regarding her own security and safety.
However, TRC Chairman Surya Kiran Gurung denied any infighting within the commission. He said that all recent discussions within the commission had taken place only to get the commissioners to appreciate the sensitivity of the commission's responsibilities, as some of its activities had been wrongly portrayed in media of late.
"Terming the discussions within the commission as infighting would be wrong. Since the commission would soon be entering into investigations of sensitive cases, dealing with the media could be delicate. So, I have taken on that responsibility myself."
He claimed that none of the commissioners is against visiting the places where incidents of serious rights violation took place, including Bandarmudhe.
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