Speaking at a seminar -- Maintaining Internal Security and Nepal´s National Interest -- organized by Center for South Asian Studies in cooperation with Konrad Adenauer Stiftung on Friday, they also highlighted the need to form Police Service Commission for impartial recruitment and promotion of police personnel.[break]
Former Senior Superintendent of Nepal Police Dr Chuda Bahadur Shrestha said effective internal security can be maintained only when police is kept free from political interference. "The government should form an independent inspectorate system for the performance audit of the police organization in relation to crime prevention and safety of the people," he said.
Dr Shrestha said politicization in security organizations, nexus between politics and criminals and withdrawals recently of the cases involving notorious criminals under the pretext of political cases have created internal security problem in Nepal. He also pointed out the need to create professional police units to deal with specialized crimes likes kidnapping, cyber crimes and hijacking.
Highlighting the importance of intelligence to maintain law and order, former Lieutenant General of Nepal Army Sadip Shah suggested that National Investigation Department, the intelligence arm of the government, be kept directly under the Office of the Prime Minister. The NID currently functions under the Home Ministry.
Shah argued that this would not only help provide critical information to the government to maintain law and order but also provide dispassionate intelligence concerning good governance. He asked the government to devote adequate financial and human resources and provide support and ownership of the government to ensure its smooth functioning.
Former Additional Inspector General of Armed Police Force Rabi Raj Thapa said police organizations will need to adjust and change with historic development and political change in line with democratic social norms and public expectations. He complained that there have not been any studies as to what kind of organization security agencies will have under the federal state structure.
Speaking on the occasion, Jan Sharma argued that all security agencies must be restructured and reoriented to discharge their clearly defined duties under the new thinking on security in a professional manner without political interference for maintaining effective internal security.
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