Kathmandu, August 24
Nepali Congress President Gagan Thapa has urged the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers to immediately make public the report of the Lal Commission, which investigated incidents during the Madhes and Tharuhat movements.
Thapa made the demand through social media, while acknowledging that political parties have repeatedly failed to fulfil their commitments to release the report after coming to power.
He said political parties had been calling for the report’s publication almost every year since 2017, often promising to make it public before entering government.
“Since 2017, almost every year there have been calls to make the Lal Commission report public. Every time, we political parties promised to release the report before entering government, but after coming to power, we failed to implement that commitment,” Thapa wrote. “Now, almost a decade has passed.”
The high-level inquiry commission, formed in 2016 under former Supreme Court Justice Girish Chandra Lal, submitted its report after investigating incidents linked to the Madhes and Tharuhat movements.
Thapa said the continued failure to make the report public has prevented the truth about the incidents from coming out and left victims deprived of justice.
He said the shortcomings of previous governments should not be used as a reason to keep withholding the report.
“Previous governments also failed to do this. But the failures of the past cannot and should not become a reason for not releasing the report today,” Thapa wrote. “This time, the issue should not remain limited to a commitment.”
Thapa directly appealed to the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers to release the report without further delay.
“My appeal to the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers is this: release the Lal Commission report without any further delay. Citizens have the right to know the truth, and victims have the right to justice,” he said.
