The transitional justice process is in limbo due to the delay in approval of  the regulations governing commissions formed to investigate the conflict-era cases of human rights violations.

The two commissions—Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) and Commission on Commission for Investigation on Enforced Disappeared Persons (CIEDP)— had submitted the drafts of regulations to the Peace Ministry four months ago.

“The drafts were forwarded to the Law Ministry for review,” said Rishi Rajbhandari, joint secretary at the Peace Ministry. “We are hoping to get them this week.”

According to Rajbhandari,  it will take at least a week to review the drafts before they are forwarded to the Cabinet for approval.

The two commissions were formed in February with the mandate to complete their tasks within two years, with possible extension of one year. So far, they have not even begun the tasks of registering complaints.

“We will be able to start off immediately once we get the regulations approved,” said CIEDP Chairman Lokendra Mallick.

The commissions are supposed to document and investigate the incidents of human rights violations that occurred from 1996 to 2006 during the Maoist insurgency. There are 16,000 deaths and over 1,300 cases of disappearances for the commissions to investigate.