The Association of Families of Fighters Disappeared by the State (AFFDIS) announced that it will picket the headquarters of the major three political parties -- UCPN (Maoist), Nepal Congress and CPN-UML -- on March 21, 22 and 23 for one hour to exert pressure on the parties to enact the proposed law on formation of a commission on forced disappearances. [break]
The bills on disappearances commission and truth and reconciliation commission are under discussions among political parties.
"We are facing very painful situation: neither we do we have a new constitution nor we have information on our missing kin," said Ekraj Bhandari, chairman of AFFDIS, announcing the protest programs at a press conference at the Maoist party headquarters at Parisdanda, Kathmandu on Monday.
Bhandari, whose lawyer son Bipin Bhandari was disappeared about a decade ago, said that their wait for the information on missing kin has been very painful as none of those involved in disappearing 1,098 Maoist leaders and cadres have been identified and punished.
The pro-Maoist organization has also decided to mark May 20 as "disappearance day", stating that a group six Maoist leaders, including central member Dandapani Neupane, were disappeared on May 20, 1999 during the conflict, by organizing a pubic function at Basantapur.
Though the parties, then government, and then CPN (Maoist) [present UCPN (Maoist)] had agreed in the Comprehensive Peace Agreement of November 21, 2006 to make public the whereabouts of those disappeared by them within 60 days since the signing of the agreement, there has been little progress in this regard.
Furthermore, the issue of transitional justice has not got serious attention from the parties.
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