7 February, Kathmandu. Assembly Speaker Devraj Ghimire has remarked that the government has not given priority to completing the rest of the peace process.
Addressing a program organized by the Informal Sector Services Center (INSEC) in the capital on Sunday, he remarked that the government has not given priority to the investigation of missing persons and the work to be done by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
Stating that the Truth and Disappearance Inquiry Commission has not yet completed its work, Speaker Ghimire said that the government has extended the deadline of the commission, but has not brought any concrete program to complete the work of the peace process.
The commission ended before the work was completed. It was about how to search for missing citizens.
The present government has extended the deadline of that (commission). Some time has passed since the deadline was extended. However, the work of reconstituting it to make it a body is not being done.”
Speaker Ghimire further said in this, ‘The government is not serious about the suffering of the people in the war (weapons issue), people with disabilities and the conditions where they are unable to earn a living.’
Speaker Ghimire has admitted that there has not been enough discussion in Parliament to complete the peace process.
On July 1, 2078, in a meeting of the Council of Ministers under the leadership of the then Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba, it was decided to extend the tenure of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, the Disappearance Inquiry Commission and its officials by one year.
Then, through obstacles, both commissions have been extended until the end of next June by a cabinet decision on 28 October. Though the deadline has been extended twice this year, both the commissions are without officials since June 31, 2078.
Criticizing the government, the speaker said that even after extending the deadline of the commission, the work is not being done due to lack of officers.