Rayamajhi Panel Report not to be Made Public

The High-Level Investigation Commission headed by former Supreme Court Justice Krsihna Jung Rayamajhi on Thursday said its report on the suppression of the April mass movement and killings won't be made public.The commission will submit the report to Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala on Friday.

"We will not make the report public," Rayamajhi told . He added that as there are serious matters in the report, publicising it may affect the law and order situation.

Rayamajhi said they finalised the report on Thursday and sought Koirala's time for its submission. The panel took 184 days to complete its work.

Rayamajhi said the Probe Commission Act, 1969, does not allow the commission to make the report — a secret document — public. "We can, however, disclose limited information verbally," he said.

He also, however, said that he would suggest the Prime Minister to make the report accessible to people as it is a matter of public interest.

The commission has indicted King Gyanendra, members of the erstwhile cabinet, chiefs of security agencies and high-ranking security officials. It has also decided to recommend the government to prosecute on murder charges former Home Minister Kamal Thapa and those who issued shoot orders during the agitation.

President of Nepal Bar Association, Shambhu Thapa, however, criticised the idea of keeping the report a secret and called on the government to respect the rights of the people. "If the government wants to respect the right to information of the people, the report must be made public," Thapa told

."This is a public document and as such it must be made public as per article 16 of the 1990 Constitution and in accordance with the emerging principle of right to information and to promote the rule of law," he said.

Advocate Upendra Keshari Neupane also suggested the government publicise the report and implement it's suggestions so that it does not meet the same fate as that of the Mallik Commission report. The Mallik Commission was formed to investigate the suppression of the 1990 movement. However, its recommendations were never implemented.

President of the Federation of Nepalese Journalists Bishnu Nisthuri also objected to the idea of keeping the report a secret. "This is against the spirit of the Jana Andolan-II," he told .

Mainwhile Serious differences arose among members of the High-Level Investigation Commission over the recommendation to the government to take action against the king, former ministers and chiefs of security agencies.

While a majority of the members of the panel decided to submit the report to the PM, two members Ram Kumar Shrestha and Dr Kiran Shrestha accused them of trying to save the king and the officials from facing stringent action.

Though they did not write a formal note of dissent , they objected to the idea of the majority of the members.“We went against the proposal of the majority as they have tried to protect the King, the former ministers and the chiefs of security agencies,” Shrestha told .

He and Dr Shrestha did not sign the minute and walked out of the meeting. However, the majority of the members decided to stick to the plan of submitting the report.

Shrestha alleged that the majority was against charging former ministers, including Kamal Thapa, and the security chiefs, under murder charge, and wanted them to be prosecuted under corruption charge.

However, another member of the commission claimed that Ram Kumar and Dr Shrestha were trying to hinder the decision making process.

The majority also claimed that Ram Kumar is close to the chief of the Nepali Army Rookmangud Katawal and he was trying to obstruct the process and that Ram Kumar always created problems while the commission was doing its job.

“The truth is that the two members want the officials prosecuted on corruption charges and not on murder charges,” a member in the majority group said.

He said the commission would go ahead and recommend prosecuting the officials on murder charges as well.Another member Ram Prasad Shrestha said that the two members’ allegation that the majority of the members are trying to protect the king and the former officials is “totally baseless.”