Travesty of justice

There is growing concern that the government is preparing to withdraw criminal cases under the cover of insurgency-related political issues. The coalition of the Maoist and Madhesi parties in their four-point deal signed during the formation of the current government had vowed to retract cases related to the insurgency and the Madhes movement. Chairman of National Human Rights Commission Kedar Nath Upadhyaya on Thursday called on the chiefs of the three major parties—UCPN(Marxist), NC and UML— and cautioned them that such a move will only sanction the widespread impunity in Nepali society.



Many civil society leaders, local rights bodies, international human rights organizations and members of the international community in Kathmandu have already urged the government and Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai not to withdraw cases in which grave human rights abuses are involved.



Transitional justice is a sensitive issue in any country in a post-conflict situation and it should be handled with all the sensitivity it deserves. No one is calling for a blanket indictment of all the rights abuses committed during the insurgency or for that matter during the Madhes movement; however, there also cannot be any blanket amnesty for all kinds of crimes, including personally-motivated crimes and crimes against humanity. It’s for this reason that the Comprehensive Peace Agreement envisioned the constitution of various commissions, including a Truth and Reconciliation Commission.



Successive governments and political parties in opposition in the post-Jaanadalon II period have not worked hard enough to push for the formation of these commissions, leaving the wounds of the insurgency still festering. And now adding insult to injury for the victim families, the government is preparing to withdraw cases, including ones involving out-and-out crimes against humanity. Newly appointed Attorney General Mukti Pradhan has said publicly that he would soon initiate the withdrawal of all insurgency-era cases against Maoist cadres since they were, in his reckoning, politically-motivated.



We want to warn the government that this will be a grave mistake and could prove too costly also. If the government withdraws cases against its cadres, it will automatically lose the moral ground for bringing to book many security personnel some of whom have committed equally serious crimes. It means all the perpetrators will walk free, perhaps without any feeling of remorse, including those already indicted by the courts.



The killing of two brothers--Ujjan and Ganesh Shrestha -- by the Maoists in Okhaldhunga under the leadership of Maoist lawmaker Balkrishna Dhungel (a family member claims that Dhungel personally shot Ujjan), and the cold-blooded murder of Maina Sunar by Nepal Army personnel are two emblematic cases from the insurgency period that remind us why the government’s plan to withdraw all cases will be a travesty of justice.

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