Kathmandu, Sept. 8 -- Despite receiving an encouraging number of new complaints from insurgency-era victims, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission still lacks the necessary legal and administrative instruments to expedite its work-nearly four months after the appointment of the new team.

The five-member team led by Mahesh Thapa was appointed on May 14, based on amendments to the Enforced Disappearances Enquiry, Truth and Reconciliation Commission Act made in August last year. The new team called applications from the victims, who could not file in the past for various reasons, with a three-month deadline. The victims, across the nation, lodged 15,191 new complaints, taking the total count to 78,909. It already had 63,718 cases pending....