The Truth and Reconciliation Commission has received 52,545 complaints from the conflict victims, as the three-month deadline for cases registration ended on Sunday. With less than seven months remaining for the commission to investigate the cases, questions remain how the task will be handled and justice delivered to the victims.

The commission received 11,784 complaints in a month of the extended deadline, including complaints against CPN (Maoist Centre) Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal and a group of prominent rights activists. In the first two months, cases were registered against Nepali Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba, former king Gyanendra Shah, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Kamal Thapa, retired Army and police chiefs and bureaucrats.

Some read the numbers as the victims’ trust in the institution while others see the tens of thousands of complaints as a major challenge for the transitional justice process. “This has definitely given hope to the victims but the question is if the TRC can deliver justice,” said rights lawyer Govinda Bandi.

The commission was formed in February last year with a two-year mandate to look into the incidents of murder, torture, mutilation, displacement, abduction, rape, looting and damage to private property happening between 1996 and 2006.

It took 17 months for the commission to collect complaints from the victims. The remaining seven months seem inadequate to prove nearly 53,000 cases.

The TRC has yet to begin recording testimonies and conducting public hearings. Besides, the government has not amended the Enforced Disappea-rances Enquiry, Truth and Reconciliation Commission Act yet as ordered by the Supreme Court.

“If the government provides us with the resources and streamlines the legal framework, we can complete the task within the mandate,” said Surya Kiran Gurung. According to him, the commission lacks budget and human resource to proceed with. With an imminent change of government, the commission’s requests for budget and law amendment are unlikely to be heeded urgently.

The government had readied the draft amendments to the Transitional Justice Act to be tabled with the bills to criminalise torture and disappearance, as well as the Amnesty Bill.

“The Nepali Congress and the CPN (Maoist Centre) have agreed to expedite the transitional justice process, which perhaps is the only hope for the victims,” said Advocate Dipendra Jha. “But there is no option but to extend the mandate of the commission to complete the major component of the peace process.”

Meanwhile, the Commission of Investigation on Enforced Disappeared Persons on Sunday extended the deadline to register complaints till August 10. However, the complaints can be registered at the commission’s office in Pulchowk, Lalitpur, only.