Kathmandu, July 3: The three-member task force formed to seek consensus on the issues in the Transitional Justice Bill (TRC) has started preliminary discussions.
Mr Mahesh Bartaula, a member of the task force from CPN UML, informed that the first meeting of the working group held today at the Singhdurbar has brought forward the discussion to reach a consensus on the issue of disagreement on the bill.
He said that there was a discussion about the disagreements in the bill to amend the Commission for Investigation, Truth and Reconciliation Act of Disappeared Persons. “We have started discussions to reach consensus on the bill. Today, we focused on four issues, including serious human rights violations, definition of murder, incidents during armed conflict and demands made by the affected persons and the Attorney General regarding serious human rights violations. We will soon conclude the matter of disagreement”, Bartaula shared.
Another member of the task force, Mr Ramesh Lekhak from Nepali Congress, said that there was a positive discussion in the meeting to reach an agreement on the TRC Bill. Another member, Mr Janardan Sharma from Maoist Centre, expressed his belief that today’s discussion has progressed in a positive manner and that the disagreement will be resolved soon.
A facilitation task force was formed to dwell on the pertinent issues that were not met in the Transitional Justice Bill. The task force was formed with the agreement of the top leaders of the three major parties Nepali Congress, CPN (UML) and CPN (Maoist Centre).
The three-member task force will discuss the four points of disagreement in the previous draft and make a common opinion.