Police have citizens' trust, we will conduct election peacefully: Police Spokesperson Kafle

Kathmandu, Jan 7: With less than two months for the country to go for election to the House of Representatives members that the current interim government is mandated to conduct, security remains the first and foremost requisite for a successful and peaceful election. 

Towards this, the Nepal Police, a federal entity with more than 79,000 positions and above 75,000 personnel working, asserted that it is committed to conduct the upcoming March 5's election in a free, fair and fear-less environment.

The Nepal Police, responsible for ensuring inner-circle election security, has called on the public to remain confident in the security arrangements. 

As the entire country has entered into election mode, the Rastriya Samachar Samiti (RSS) talked with Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of Police Abhi Narayan Kafle, who is the Spokesperson of the Nepal Police.

The talk covered key security issues such as prison escapes, weapons looted  by the demonstrators during the Gen-Z movement in last September 8 and 9, election security preparedness and morale of the security personnel in the wake of these untoward incidents.

Regarding overall security situation of the country at present, Spokesperson Kafle said that the police have put a robust and reliable security arrangement in place. All police units have been mobilized effectively while the election-centric security operations are already underway, he mentioned.

Kafle further explained that election cells have been formed from federal to provincial and district level with designated focal persons assigned to each cell. 

To ensure a favorable environment for the election, he added that police subordinate have been deployed to conduct election-targeted patrolling, picketing and checking.

According to Spokesperson Kafle, efforts are underway to expedite the reconstruction of the police offices damaged during the Gen-Z uprising along with the repair, maintenances and operation of police vehicles at full capacity. 

Moreover, police have been conducting regulator monitoring and patrolling to prevent infiltration and control criminal activities in the border area.

Security challenges have been identified from various angles in the election given that the election is going to be conducted under a different circumstance. 

When asked how has the police organization taken this, Spokesperson Kafle replied that police has assessed security challenges from all possible angles. 

As the Election Day draws in closer, he observed, the differences and internal conflicts among the Gen-Z generation youth groups, as well as between the old and new political parties could intensify. 

Due to political polarization and disagreement among the political parties in the aftermath of the Gen-Z revolt, he said that police have considered the prospects of election boycotts or attempts to disrupt the electoral process. 

Besides this, he said that police have noted threats or acts of violence against voters, candidates running election and election officers as potential security threats.

Furthermore, the security organization has also acknowledged possible activities of anti-election group such as undesirable activities by ethnic, religious and communal groups and impact of misinformation doing the rounds in the social media as a challenge. 

According to him, challenges may arise due to geographical remoteness of certain regions, difficult terrains in hilly and mountainous areas and adverse weather conditions.

As for facing any election related security challenges by far, the Spokesperson ruled out any major security incidents occurring till date as he mentioned that daily security management related activities are being carried out daily.

To address these concerns, Spokesperson Kafle shared that Ministry of Home Affairs, Police headquarters and all subordinate units are actively identifying security threats and challenges and devising plans based on the threat assessments.

He informed that an integrated security plan has been devised and district-level election security plans are being prepared and implemented accordingly.

Concerns have been raised regarding security risks stemming from weapons looted from security personnel and police offices and prisoners escaped during the Gen-Z movement. 

Responding to the query-How has police organization viewed this? Spokesperson Kafle said that police organization has taken this matter into serious consideration and has already mobilized all available human resources within the organization to recover the looted arms and apprehend prisoners at large. 

During the talks with RSS, he divulged that police have adopted a unified and coordinated approach among all security mechanisms to address this issue. 

Add to that, he said that Nepal Police has launched a special campaign to arrest the absconding criminals and recover the stolen and missing weapons. 

According to him, arrests of fugitive, prisoners and detainees are being made on a daily basis while information collection and targeted search operations are ongoing in the identified areas at present. 

'Most of the wanted criminal and stolen weapons have been successfully brought under control,' he articulated. (RSS)