Gadtaula is recommended to be the chairman of Thapa and Disappeared Persons Inquiry Commission
Amidst the protests of the conflict victims, the recommendation committee has recommended the names of officials in the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and the Investigation Commission of Disappeared Persons. On Sunday, the committee submitted the names of five people including the chairman in both the commissions. The victims have protested saying that they are going to appoint workers in the party division.
The committee formed on March 13 under the chairmanship of former Chief Justice Omprakash Mishra presented the names of officials in both commissions to Law Minister Ajay Prasad Chaurasia two weeks before the end of his two-month tenure. "We have recommended that 10 people be appointed to both commissions out of the 34 people included in the short list," said Mishra. Mishra said that the same has been submitted to Minister Chaurasia along with the report. "After the minister takes the name to the cabinet, the government will appoint the recommended person," he said. According to sources related to the committee, it has been recommended to appoint former Deputy Attorney General Mahesh Thapa and former Chief Secretary Leeladevi Gadtaula as chairman of the commission of inquiry into missing persons.
70-year-old Thapa, who retired compulsorily due to age limit 12 years ago, has been recommended for the Congress quota. 59-year-old Gadtoula, who retired last year, has been recommended in the UML quota. Congress has got three members, UML has four and Maoist has got three members along with the president .
``If the parties were to make recommendations on their own quotas, why did they have to create a recommendation committee?'' said Devi Khadka, the founder of Aparajit Foundation, an organization formed by Maoist leaders and women victims of sexual violence during the conflict for their rights. Manoj Dawadi, the representative of the Human Rights Commission, who is in the committee, did not accept the recommendation, and the recommendation could not be made . This time, Lily Thapa, the representative of the Commission, has agreed. The victims have alleged that Thapa accepted what the parties said and that they got involved. On Sunday, the victims reached the office of the Commission in Pulchok and staged a dharna.
Thapa said that he did not do anything bad. "They demanded that I should be called back from the committee. They said that there was no consultation. Today, they came to the commission. It's not that there was no consultation, but it was less," said Thapa. "I don't want to leave because the process is moving forward," she said, "should the government be blamed for everything?" "We will not accept this commission under any circumstances," said activist Ram Bhandari, a victim of the conflict, "we will form a truth commission in parallel and make public who committed the crime". The
victims made an institutional application to recommend former Chief Justice Kalyan Shrestha, advocate Mandira Sharma, who has been prosecuting and investigating human rights violations, to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and the Disappeared Persons Investigation Commission, respectively. However, the committee refused to recommend the name of the former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court on the grounds that the constitution does not allow him to be appointed other than human rights. A member of the committee said that Sharma was not asked for citizenship to be included in the short list. Sharma said that she was not asked for any such document.
