Nepal to deploy armed police force all around country

Nepali government decided to deploy Armed Police Force (APF) personnel all around the country by mid-February, local newspaper The Kathmandu Post reported on Sunday.

Nepal's home minister Krishna Prasad Sitaula said on Saturday that the APF would be immediately deployed in all 205 parliamentary constituencies and 75 district headquarters of the country to improve the security situation at the village level.

"The number of civil police will be far from adequate to provide security during the polls, so the ministry has decided to deploy APF personnel," he said. There are 47,000 civil police personnel in the country at present.

As per the Nov. 21 comprehensive peace accord with the Communist Party of Nepal (CPN) (formerly known as guerilla), the government cannot mobilize Nepali Army personnel during the polls.

A home ministry source said that currently, 1783 out of 1979 police posts are in operation and 196 ones remain to be reopened. Before April 11, 2006, only 704 posts were operational.

Source: Xinhua