(Ed. Note: This is the first in a series of three statements published in late March/Early April 2007 by the Asian Human Rights Commission on the challenges currently facing democracy, rule of law and human rights in Nepal.)

The pulse of an uprising that brought down the centuries-old monarchy and brought back the Parliament as the supreme authority in Nepal still reverberates in the streets of Kathmandu. There is an energy among the ordinary folk mainly because there is a widespread feeling that significant changes are possible. In other words, a sense of hope does exist among them.

However, it is also not an exaggeration to say that people entertain some anxieties, doubts and even misgivings about the way things may proceed from this point onwards. One of the most perplexing factors is that those who have been deprived of political power are still in positions of power within the military, police and the bureaucracy. Those who have earlier played a significant role in maintaining tyranny are now supposed to play the role of guardians of democracy.

Maina Sunawar

One incident that brings this to light was the exhumation of the body of Maina Sunawar (15) who was considered 'disappeared' for the last three years. Her remains were exhumed on March 23 this year at the compound of the Birendra Peace Operation Training Centre—a well secured military compound at Panchkal Kavre. Maina had been arrested in February 2004 by the army and brought to the Birendra Peace Operation Training Centre where it is alleged that she was tortured to death. The family and human rights activists complained about the arrest to the army and other authorities but they all denied her arrest. Later however, they admitted the arrest but denied her detention at the Birendra compound. Still later the army admitted the detention but denied the killing. But on March 23 the remains of her body were discovered at a place, which an informer identified as the site where she had been buried. The national forensic experts, with technical support from the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, (OHCHR), exhumed the remains.

As this is a case of murder, about 18 months after, Maina's mother filed a First Information Report (FIR) demanding criminal investigations into the case. The exhumation of the body, which took place one and a half years later, is the first step towards a possible prosecution. The remains have been sent to forensic laboratories outside the country for DNA testing and other examinations.

Bahairabnath Barrack Disappearances

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court directed a Committee to investigate the disappearances of four individuals and later a Supreme Court Divisional Bench directed investigations into the alleged disappearance of 49 persons from Bahairabnath Barracks. Whilst investigating, the Committee found records and other evidence relating to a much larger number of disappearances sealed at the district police office of Katmandu. After this discovery however, a Supreme Court Divisional Bench decided to suspend investigations relating to the cases. Members of the Committee have insisted they need more time to investigate the Bahairabnath Barrack cases and that irreparable damage may be done to the discovered documents and other evidence if these are handed back to the police. The Supreme Court has not yet made any order to ensure the protection of the large amount of documents that have been discovered by the committee who was initially commissioned by the Supreme Court itself.

It appears there is a clear lack of direction from the authorities including the Supreme Court on the investigations into gross abuses of human rights in the past. Lawyers and activists say that overwhelming evidence exists to point out gross abuses of human rights such as disappearances, extrajudicial killings and torture and that there is a possibility of the destruction of such evidence with the view to protecting the perpetrators. The lack of will to deal with this issue is one of the major causes for the doubts and misgivings about the direction that the country is taking now—several months after the popular uprising that gave hope for a better Nepal.

To ignore the genuine doubts and misgivings that the people have at the moment about the absence of a comprehensive plan for ending impunity can have serious repercussions in the near future. The fragile political agreements can give rise to many forms of new challenges to the possibility of democracy in Nepal. The voices of concern coming from lawyers and the human rights community need to be given serious consideration if the fruits of the struggle for democracy are yet to ripen.

The most important need at the moment is for a comprehensive action plan to end impunity which details various steps that need to be taken both in the area of law as well as in the implementation of such laws in order to ensure a proper system of criminal justice.