Kathmandu, June 13 -- In October last year, the government reconstituted the Land Issues Resolving Commission to once and for all address the issues of landless squatters and unmanaged settlements.

All the district-level subordinate offices were also revived the following month. The government and the commission's officials have been claiming this mechanism will settle the long-standing problems, eliminating the need to form such mechanisms in the future.

The commission, led by CPN-UML leader Hari Prasad Rijal, is the 16th such body formed after the restoration of democracy in 1990 to resettle landless squatters. Yet, contrary to the claims, the commission doesn't seem to be heading in the direction of permanently resolving the problem....