The government has added security personnel for CPN-Maoist leader Pushpa Kamal Dahal against the prevalent laws of the land.
Immediately after the formation of the coalition government, led by Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MoHA) made the decision to add a dozen security personnel under the command of a Deputy Superintendent of Police for Dahal’s safekeeping.
Before this, the government had provided Dahal with 18 police personnel for his security. The previous government, led by KP Sharma Oli, had withdrawn 55 security personnel deployed for Dahal’s protection.
As per the prevalent laws, 16 personnel from the Armed Police Force (APF) and two from the Nepal Police can be deployed for the security of former prime ministers.
However, Home Secretary Maheshwar Neupane has directed AFP and Nepal Police to deploy additional personnel under the leadership of a DSP Binod Ghimire for Dahal’s security.
With the new arrangement, Dahal’s carcade will have a Nepal Police vehicle in the front and an APF vehicle at the back with the vehicle carrying him in the middle.
MoHA has recently started to deploy a large number of security personnel for the protection of political party leaders. The Ministry has reportedly taken about a dozen decisions to deploy bodyguards for the security of former ministers of various political parties.
All those decisions have been sent to the police headquarters for implementation.
Nepal Police spokesperson Basanta Bahadur Kunwar said that the deployment of bodyguards would be analyzed on the basis of security challenges and urged everyone to understand it as a regular process.
As per the existing rules, the former king gets 16 APF personnel and two Nepal Police personnel, former presidents are given 21 Nepal Army personnel, former Vice-presidents are provided with 11 APF and two Nepal Police personnel, and former prime ministers are provided with 16 APF as well as two Nepal Police personnel as security for lifetime.
Similarly, former chief justices are provided with six APF and two Nepal Police officers for five years, former House speakers are given two Nepal Police personnel for three years, former deputy prime ministers are given two Nepal Police personnel for two years, former home ministers are given two Nepal Police officers for 10 years, former defense ministers are given two Nepal Army personnel for two years, former ministers are given one Nepal Police officer for one year as security.
The rules stipulate that seven APF and two Nepal Police officers will be deployed for 10 years for the protection of chief of Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority.
