The commission was set up to examine allegations of human rights violations and inquire about enforced disappearances during the Panchayat system from 1961 to 1990.
Koilara, and the radical socialist line adopted by the Nepali Congress, which was detrimental to the interest of the feudal landlords and aristocratic families,[5] were two main factors which led King Mahendra to extend his powers.
Historically and in accordance with Hindu religion, each caste group system of Nepal formed its own panchayat (council of elders): it was a sociopolitical organization based on a village level.
[5] Public dissent against authoritarian rule, student demonstration and anti-regime activities grew along with rampant arrests of activists by the royal government.
[citation needed] In May 1885, the banned Nepali Congress submitted a petition to the king signed by over three hundred thousand people, listing various local demands.
After receiving no response from the king, the party decided to launch a civil disobedience movement which led to the arrest of thousands of political workers and their leaders.
[citation needed] After the end of the panchayat system, when the Nepalese king ruled without parliament, the new provisional government established a truth commission: the first post-panchayat Prime Minister, Krishna Prasad Bhattharai, issued an executive order to establish the Commission of Inquiry to Locate the Persons Disappeared during the Panchayat Period in 1990.
[1] The enquiry was led by four commissioners: Surya Bahadur Shakya as chair, Prakash Kafle, Basudev Dhungana and Dr. Sachche Kumar Pahadi.
[2] A two-volume report was officially submitted to the government in 1991, but it was made public only in 1994 thanks to the pressure from civil society groups, including Amnesty International.
[citation needed] The commission investigated about one hundred cases and identified a total of 35 persons "disappeared" at the hands of the state, five of whom were killed, and the rest declared “unknown”.
From that moment and during the next six years, the battle between government troops and Maoist guerrillas[6] left thousands dead, paralyzed the economy and maintained a state of terror.
According to Richard Bennett, Asia director at Amnesty International, "the UN's findings are consistent with what human rights groups have been saying all along – Nepal’s TRC Act is fundamentally flawed and could leave thousands of victims of conflict-related violations without access to the justice they deserve.
[citation needed] The humanitarian crisis due to the 2015 earthquakes created new problems for the people and slowed progress towards achieving justice.
[citation needed] Also in 1990, the government created a separate commission to investigate the loss of life and damage to property during the popular movement in 1990.
The Malik Commission submitted its recommendations to the government in 1990 and held various police personnel, local administrators and members of the Council of Ministers for the human-rights violations committed:[13] 45 people had been killed and 23,000 injured.
[citation needed] The Nepalese society is still ruled by class and caste orders, and influenced by the feudal and monarchic state which existed until the 1990s.
Power relationships in justice administration still remain in democratic Nepal: there is an independent judiciary but most of the judges are appointed by bureaucrats in the judicial service itself.