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The meeting of the Investment Board of Nepal has approved investment worth a total of Rs 36. 37 billion for four hydropower projects.

A meeting of the Investment Board presided over by Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal approved investment worth a total of Rs 36. 37 billion for Rolwaling river, Chujung river, Dana river and Sanibheri Hydropower projects.

Reviewing the current progress regarding the implementation of the Tamor Reservoir Hydropower Project, the meeting has decided to form a high-level committee to present suggestions pertaining to the working procedures of the future project.

Similarly, the meeting has decided to grant a study permit to Dolma Himalayan Energy for the study of a solar energy project of 245 MW and 20 MW battery capacity in Rajpur Rural Municipality of Dang District.

Likewise, the Board has taken note of the detailed feasibility study report submitted by the Risen Energy Co. Ltd for the development of 250 MW solar energy in Kohalpur of Banke and Bandganga of Kapilvastu.

The Board has decided to present a proposal to the Council of Ministers for the implementation of the order issued by the Supreme Court in relation to the Upper Karnali Hydropower Project.

Moreover, the Board has approved the draft of the Memorandum of Understanding to be signed with a company based in Malaysia for carrying out a study on setting up a chemical fertilizer industry.

On the occasion, Prime Minister Dahal directed all the bodies concerned to carry out more study and analysis so that the determination of cost for hydroelectricity projects is 'bankable' in the coming days, to deepen the required coordination for timely completion of the projects under construction, and to carry out result-oriented works by shortening the processes related to investment approval and project implementation.

After the restoration of democracy in 1990, investigating corruption scandals and major crimes through high-level probe panels has been a recurrent practice in Nepal. These panels have ostensibly yielded reports advising government action, yet these documents have largely remained hidden from the public eye, and their recommendations conspicuously unheeded.

In some disconcerting instances, these very panels have appeared to function as protective shields for high-profile individuals entangled in corruption and other ignoble scandals.

This prompts a glaring question: why form such so-called high level probe commission and to what end? Also, what is the point of the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA), the constitutionally mandated body meant for probing corruption cases?

On Wednesday, political parties represented in the Federal Parliament decided to form yet another high-level panel, this time to investigate all known and unknown gold smuggling incidents. The decision is connected with the gold trafficking incident that took place via Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu last month. 

The Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) of Nepal Police is tasked with the investigation of the case, but the main opposition, CPN-UML, looks askance, insisting on a separate high level commission for a fair inquest. The party resorted to obstructing the parliamentary proceedings to press its demand, and the ruling coalition parties led by CPN (Maoist Center) eventually relented.     

Prominent legal figure and former Supreme Court Justice Balaram KC has emphatically criticized this cross-party consensus, deeming it a grievous misstep that threatens to establish a harmful precedent. He says formation of a high level probe commission must be reserved in the case of an unprecedented and complex incident. “Gold smuggling is not a new event in the annals of crime that have taken place in Nepal.”

KC fears that this approach of forming high level probe commissions might be applied to even minor issues in the future. And since this time-honored practice has repeatedly failed, he casts doubt on the prospects of this fresh commission diverging from its predecessors.

The latest agreement to create a new commission comes with the appointment of a sitting judge to lead the inquiry. The commission, formed under the legal purview of the Commissions of Inquiry Act of 1969, is slated to commence its operations on 22nd September.

Section 3 (3) of the Commissions of Inquiry Act provisions that the Judicial Council will recommend a sitting justice to lead the commission. Section 4 of the Act elaborates on the commission's functions, duties, and powers. 

As per the Act, the commission can be given more authority if required. According to Section 5 (a), if the commission has reasonable grounds to believe that any item or document pertinent to the investigation is in possession of a person or situated in a specific place, it can conduct searches, adhering to prevailing laws. The commission can authorize a gazetted officer to execute searches and, if located, seize relevant items or documents, or procure full or partial copies of such documents.

The commission also holds the prerogative to penalize non-compliance with its directives or extend clemency.  Notably, the commission's mandate pertains not only to gold smuggling through Kathmandu airport but also encompasses a separate case involving the illicit transportation of gold concealed within e-cigarettes. In the latter case, former Home Minister and Vice-chairman of CPN (Maoist Center), Krishna Bahadur Mahara, and his son Rahul have been implicated. It was revealed in the investigation carried out by the CIB of Nepal Police that the father-son duo had repeatedly held telephone conversations and met the Chinese national involved in gold smuggling.

The formation of this commission, operating under the imprimatur of the Commissions of Inquiry Act, vests it with considerable jurisdiction. Beyond influencing policy matters, the commission possesses authority to conduct rigorous investigations, encompassing inquiries, depositions, and searches relating to gold smuggling offenses. Earlier, the ruling parties, particularly the Maoist Center, was reluctant to form the inquiry commission, fearing its authority to summon even high-ranking officials, including the prime minister and ministers, for statements.

The Maoist-led coalition government had to acquiesce to the demand for a powerful commission to probe the gold smuggling case, after the opposition UML and primary coalition partner, Nepali Congress, pressed Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal. 

UML and Congress are not pleased with the arrest of their senior leaders and former ministers—Top Bahadur Rayamahi and Bal Krishna Khand respectively—in connection to another case. Now with one of the Maoist senior leaders implicated in the gold smuggling incident, UML and Congress want the prime minister to take strong action, even if that means arresting his own party leader.  

These developments have also engendered a palpable schism between the coalition partners Maoists and Congress. However, skeptics argue that the latest commission formed to investigate the gold smuggling incident will not bear any fruit. As history has borne witness, a litany of investigative commissions has been convened to scrutinize diverse incidents and irregularities, without any action.

These encompass tragic occurrences like the Dasdhunga accident and the Royal Palace massacre, as well as inquiries into procurement discrepancies, medical supply mismanagement, land allocation issues, and the procurement of wide-body aircraft. Despite the painstaking efforts of such commissions, the ultimate fate of their reports has invariably been obscurity.

However, retired police officer Hemanta Malla Thakuri contends that the prudent course would be to constitute high-level panels following the culmination of Nepal Police investigations. 

“While police investigations are primarily concerned with criminal dimensions, multifarious bureaucratic and political intricacies necessitate a broader investigative ambit,” he says.

The election for the presidents of the parliamentary committees under the House of Representatives has been slated for Monday.

Speaker Devraj Ghimire fixed the date after holding a discussion with the chief whips of parties on Thursday, Speaker’s press advisor Shekhar Adhikari said.

According to him, the election for the presidents of parliamentary committees will be held at 1 pm on August 28.

Though the parliamentary committees were formed, the meeting has been conducted under the chairmanship of senior members without electing the presidents.

There are 10 thematic committees under the House of Representatives and two joint committees with representation from the members of the National Assembly.

Speaker Ghimire had been urging parties to pick the leadership on consensus.

The notice for the election will be published today itself.

It has already been agreed among the major political parties that Nepali Congress will lead four, CPN-UML three, CPN (Maoist Center) two and CPN (Unified Socialist), Janata Samajbadi Party and Janamat Party will lead one committee each.

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Nepal’s transitional justice process has been a long and frustrating saga, seemingly without a foreseeable conclusion. As the two key commissions tasked with investigating war-era human rights abuses—Truth and Reconciliation Commission and the Commission of Investigation on Enforced Disappeared Persons—languish without leadership, victims and international observers alike are grappling with uncertainty.

Rishi Poudel,  the TRC undersecretary, says the commission’s works are at a complete standstill in the absence of its chair and other members. 

The TRC has registered 64,000 complaints from the conflict victims, and has so far managed to muster preliminary investigations for around 4,000 cases. Around 3,000 cases have been left in abeyance due to a lack of concrete evidence. 

Similarly, the CIEDP, tasked with addressing enforced disappearances, has received a total of 3,288 complaints. Out of these, 277 were transferred to the TRC, 292 were put on hold, 136 complaints were found to be duplicative, and 48 cases were resolved. Presently, the commission grapples with 258 active complaints.

Suman Adhikari, a conflict victim, laments that the TRC has slipped down the priority list of the coalition government, instead it is being used as a bargaining chip by political parties. “We are expecting a public statement from top three leaders of major parties Nepali Congress, CPN-UML and CPN (Maoist Center) expressing their commitment to TRC and apology for the delay,” he says.

Beyond the immediate vacuum in leadership, a newly tabled bill has thrust the situation into the spotlight. The bill, introduced on March 9 this year, seeks to amend the Enforced Disappearance Inquiry and Truth and Reconciliation Commission Act of 2014. But it is a contentious move, one that has roused skepticism from both victims and the global community alike. Critics are quick to point out the bill's potential shortcomings, raising questions about its capacity to comprehensively address the multifaceted challenges at hand. 

The amendment’s hurried unveiling followed Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal’s startling statement, where he took ownership of the deaths of 5,000 individuals during the insurgency.

While registering the bill in the House of Representatives, Minister for Information and Communications Rekha Sharma had said, “The transitional justice Act needs to be amended to address a range of human rights violations, and to prosecute those individuals implicated in serious crimes.”

But victims of conflicts and the international community are not convinced. They say if enacted, the law would prevent the investigation of crimes including rape, murder, torture, war crimes and crime against humanity that were committed during the conflict.

Despite glimmers of optimism, such as provisions examining the conflict's root causes and securing reparations for victims, the United Nations experts have voiced concerns that the amendments, if adopted, could inadvertently provide sanctuary for perpetrators of grave crimes committed between 1996 and 2006. This criticism not only spotlights a potential breach of international obligations but also underscores a discord with Nepal's own Supreme Court rulings.

The plight of conflict victims is both a somber reminder of the past and a call for urgent action. The government's recent extension of the commissions' tenure until mid-January 2024 serves as a temporary reprieve, but victims remain undeterred in their pursuit of justice. 

In their ‘Kathmandu Declaration’, the victims have accused the government and major political parties of disregarding the commitments outlined in the Comprehensive Peace Agreement signed on 21 Nov 2006. 

“Had the government and political parties been serious, we wouldn’t have to wait for so long to get justice,” say the victims. “It’s been eight years since the formation of the two transitional justice bodies, but they remain largely inert and without key office bearers.” 

The conflict victims have also accused the government and political parties of registering the amendment bill by bypassing the parliamentary sub-committee that was tasked with the responsibility of preparing the amendment proposal. 

Criticizing the removal of the definition of forced disappearance from the bill, the victims have urged the government to include the definition, which is in the existing Act. They say many families don't even know the status of their missing loved ones, whether they are dead or alive. 

Likewise, they have sought provisions for compensating victims of torture, sexual violence and conflict-related atrocities, as well as return of the seized properties. The conflict victims have also called for changes in the proposed appointment procedure for officials in the transitional justice commissions. 

“Since past experiences have proved that the existing procedure is faulty, the government should make sure that the committee formed to recommend officials in the commissions should be credible, independent and fair,” they say. 

Furthermore, the conflict victims have demanded retroactive application of legislation to ensure that the perpetrators of serious crimes committed in the past are brought to justice. They have also suggested formation of a special court to handle transitional justice cases through the process similar to the establishment of a high court, rather than forming a three-member Special Court on the recommendation of the judicial council. 

The victims have also demanded for immediate implementation of the second national action plan for UN Security Council Resolutions No 1325 and 1820, which pertain to women, peace, and security. 

They have denounced the controversial amendment proposal to the Criminal Procedure Code, 2074 as well. The proposal, recently tabled  in the Parliament, allows for the withdrawal of ongoing criminal cases involving serious human rights violations. 

As Nepal grapples with its past, navigating the arduous terrain of transitional justice, the nation's commitment to lasting accountability is poised for examination.

The fate of the TRC and the CIEDP, intertwined with political dynamics and international responsibilities, represents the crucible in which Nepal's dedication to justice is being forged. The agony of victims, spanning realms from economic deprivation to emotional distress, underscores the gravity of the challenge—a challenge that can only be overcome with political will and steadfastness.