NATIONAL 9 (Spotlight Weelky)]

On A Wrong Foot

Truth gets a backseat as intra-party wrangling fuel controversy over the chairman of the human rights commission

By A CORRESPONDENT

Legal luminaries, who were shocked to hear former foreign minister, Ram Sharan Mahat, lambasting the newly appointed chairman of the human rights commission, Nayan Bahadur Khatri, were further taken aback when former prime minister, Krishna Prasad Bhattarai, joined the bandwagon against Khatri.

Mahat and his septuagenarian senior spared no words in pouring venom against Khatri. According to these Nepali Congress leaders, Khatri, as a chief justice under the partyless panchayat system some twenty-five years ago, did hand out death penalty to two pro-democracy fighters of the-then banned Nepali Congress. Mahat and Bhattarai said that this disqualifies Mr. Khatri from chairing a prestigious organisation like human rights commission.

The "young" generation leader Mahat and the "old" generation leader Bhattarai both said that the appointment of Khatri was an insult to the martyrs. Their argument: Khatri's appointment smacked of a hidden agenda of some power centres, which they said, Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala has either failed to realise or he himself is a part of it.

Mr. Bhattarai went one step further to say that Prime Minister Koirala should have resisted what he said was the pressure from the palace. He said that had he been the prime minister, he would have appointed the best qualified person to the post. There is little doubt that the person he had in mind was another former chief justice, Biswo Nath Upadhyay.

There is no question about the capability and the integrity of Mr. Upadhyaya. His role in framing the present constitution is no less significant. In fact, despite some controversies surrounding his career, Mr. Upadhyaya is highly regarded by law professionals. He could have been an ideal choice for the human rights commission's chair.

But just because someone-else has been preferred to Upadhaya, does not give license to Mahat, Bhattarai and the company to indulge in innuendo against the one who got the nod of the three-member committee on human rights commission.

Many lawyers say, Mr. Khatri is as equally revered and respected as Mr. Upadhyaya. Said one, "he has had an impeccable career and has played a key role in building institutions ñ even during the individual-centric panchayat system."

As for the allegations of the death penalty, research by SPOTLIGHT revealed that the division bench which handed out the death penalty to the two Nepali Congress activists did not have the-then Chief Justice, Khatri, in it. Instead, he had played a key role in seeing to it that sedition charges against the Nepali Congress leaders, B.P.Koirala, were dropped. Had the charges been not dropped, the man whom Mahat and the company still rever as "mahamanav" (superman) would have been hanged.

On the contrary, the man who did plead for death penalty against B.P.Koirala ñ the-then attorney general, Ramananda Prasad Singh -- was rewarded immediately after the overthrow of the autocratic panchayat system with, ironically, a seat in the commission to frame the democratic constitution that Mr. Biswo Nath Upadhaya did head. And the man to reward him was none other than Krishna Prasad Bhattarai. Mr. Ram Sharan Mahat and the company did not utter a single word of protest, then. Nor did they revolt when the Nepali Congress party joined hands with, and later worked under, the man in coalition governments. Surya Bahadur Thapa had publicly called for the death sentence to B.P.Koirala. But none of the present critics of Khatri said a single word against him, nor against the party leaders who decided to join hands with Mr. Thapa.

"It's a clear case of hypocrisy. I didn't think that a person of Mahat's calibre would stoop that low," said noted lawyer Kusum Shrestha. "I saw him as one of the promising leaders who could one day don the mantle of the prime minister. But he has badly let me down."

"It's all politically motivated", said another noted lawyer. "They are only seeking to gain political mileage out of it. The debate over Khatri's appointment is only a reflection of the on-going intra-party rivalry in the Nepali Congress, ahead of its crucial general convention later this year."

Krishna Prasad Bhattarai knows the truth. But he is blinded by his immediate mission: wage a vicious campaign against arch rival, Girija Prasad Koirala, ahead of the party's general convention. He has chosen the Khatri episode to fire a fresh salvo against Koirala, who, incidentally, happened to get the credit for forming the long-awaited the human rights commission. But, as the truth further unravels, Bhattarai's move may backfire. And his followers like Mahat may burn their fingers in the fire. Significantly, the cautious and clever, Sher Bahadur Deuba, has not joined the chorus of Bhattarai and Mahat, despite being on the same boat.