On 21st of November 2024, Nepal marked 18 years of the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) between the government and the then rebels, the Maoists. The CPA transformed the decade-long brutal war, which had commenced on February 13, 1996, into peace.
The foundation of the peace accord was built on the 12-point understanding reached between the then seven political parties, which were cornered during the royal takeover, and the then Maoist insurgent, in New Delhi, India on Nov 22, 2005. This understating was pivotal in connecting the political parties and civil society in the 2006 movement to overthrow the dictatorial rule of King Gyanendra and restore civil rights.
In this context, the role of civil society leading the rebels and state into the peace process cannot be overlooked. It was a lead role undertaken by civil society frontrunners duo - the late Daman Nath Dhungana (we lost him recently on 17th Nov) and the late Padma Ratna Tuladhar. The safe landing of the violent conflict likely wouldn’t happen in 10 years, without their risky and unprecedented steadfast efforts bringing the warring parties to the table.
Following the declaration of ending the war, the leadership of civil society member Dr Birendra Prasad Mishra on the ‘National Ceasefire Monitoring Committee’ was crucial in crafting an environment for reaching the CPA. Retired General Bala Nanda Sharma successfully led the ‘Joint Monitoring and Coordination Committee’ (JMCC) to integrate the Maoist combatants into the Nepali Army. We also cannot forget the crucial role played by the late justice Laxman Prasad Aryal, an architect and convenor of the ‘The Interim Constitution of Nepal 2007’ that unlocked political impasses, including the restructuring of the state, in the journey to peace.
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The promulgation of the new constitution was only possible, in eight years, having second Constituent Assembly (CA) election, with the rigorous debates for political compromises. The late Subash Negmang, CA Chair, unfolded political stalemates coordinating civil society and political parties. However, the joint efforts ended here, leaving, the transitional justice (TJ), the objective for establishing durable peace and prime concern of the conflict victims for truth seeking, justice, reparation and guarantee of non-repetition with institutional reforms, in limbo.
The third amendment to the ‘The Enforced Disappearances Enquiry, Truth and Reconciliation Commission Act 2014’ on August 29, 2024, related to TJ has generated hope of getting the process back on track. Following the amendment, a five-member recommendation (search) committee, formed for the fourth time, under the chairmanship of former chief justice Om Prakash Mishra. A representative of National Human Rights Commission’s (NHRC) Chairperson Manoj Dawadi, former Attorney General Khumba Bahadur Khadka, former ambassador Arjun Karki and Stella Tamang were the committee’s members, tasked with the responsibility to recruit 10 members with chairpersons in the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) and Commission of Enquiry on the Enforced Disappeared Persons (CoEDP), within two months of their appointments, dated October 20, 2024.
Now, all eyes are set on the committee that is expected to conduct the selection process fairly and free from political influences. This attempt is viewed as an exclusive chance to select appropriate and trustworthy commissioners, without failure, irrespective of the wasted ten-year time, money and other resources, yielding no results. The application call by the committee ended on November 19, 2024, receiving 156 applicants. Likely, it is set to search for other potential candidates and produce a final short list.
The amended Act, having gaps and ambiguity, doesn’t recognize a sizable number of victims, including non-state tortures, survived enforced disappeared and internally displaced people, war crimes against surrendered enemy, recruiting child soldiers and crimes against human rights or humanitarian laws and Nepal’s prevailing laws.
Besides four categories of non-negotiable crimes, namely rape and grave sexual violence, intentional or arbitrary killings, act of enforced disappearance and inhuman or cruel torture, all other serious crimes are pardonable, with the consent of the victims, leaving threat to intense impunity and embracing the vicious cycle of conflict.
Nevertheless, Nepal being a party and having obligation to UN human rights conventions and instruments including the Geneva Convention and with the principles established by Philip Aliston, UN special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, on ‘arbitrary killings’, the prevailing serious flaws in the Act, with strong and vibrant commissions, are believed to be addressed. Therefore, the satisfaction and justice for the conflict victims is counted, subject to the appointment of the trustworthy and committed commissioners to the TRC and CoEDP, acquiring support of victims, national and international human rights groups and international community including the United Nations having external backup from civil society and political parties.
Monitoring at the local, provincial, national and international levels is crucial. The enrollment of the experts on respective themes is critical. The NHRC, the UN, national and international rights groups should be on board holding the commissions accountable. Moreover, a combined group of civil society and representatives of major political parties can be supportive to overcome potential political hurdles.
In this context, the first CA election experiences could be useful in reviving joint efforts of civil society and political parties in this process. Though there was an effective Election Commission under the capable leadership of Bhoj Raj Pokhrel, the unstoppable political violences and killings country-wide made the election quite uncertain.
Hence, then Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala, accompanied by the Maoist supremo Pushpa Kamal Dahal and the then UML Chairman Madhav Kumar Nepal, convened a meeting with nine citizens at his official residence in Baluwatar. It constituted a committee having Daman Nath Dhungana, Padma Ratna Tuladhar, Dr Birendra Prasad Mishra, Nilamber Acharya, Dr Mahesh Maskey, Shyam Shrestha, Sushil Pyakurel, Kanak Mani Dixit and me from the civil society and Dr Prakash Saran Mahat, Amrit Bohora and Mohan Vaidya ‘Kiran’ from their respective parties. This committee, with a mandate of ‘moral authority’, played an effective role in supporting a relatively free and fair election.
My tribute to Daman dai, who recently departed from this mortal world, leaving the peace process incomplete.
