An Armed Police Force of Nepal personnel in Kathmandu

The Armed Police Force, Nepal is a

paramilitary A paramilitary is an organization whose structure, tactics, training, subculture, and (often) function are similar to those of a professional military, but is not part of a country's official or legitimate armed forces. Paramilitary units carr ...

land force An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...

tasked with counter-insurgency operations in

Nepal Nepal (; ne, नेपाल ), formerly the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal ( ne, सङ्घीय लोकतान्त्रिक गणतन्त्र नेपाल ), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mai ...

. It functions as a semi-military wing, and occupies a sort of dual role as both military and law enforcement. Service is voluntary and the minimum age for enlistment is 18 years. Initially founded with a roster of 15,000 police and military personnel, the Armed Police Force is projected to have a corps of 77,117 at the close of 2015. In February 1996, the ideologically Maoist Communist Party of Nepal operating as the United People's Front of Nepal initiated what was then dubbed the "People's War". Ensuing armed resistance and criminal activity escalating from the conflict motivated

King Gyanendra Gyanendra Shah ( ne, ज्ञानेन्द्र शाह, born 7 July 1947) is a former monarch who was the last King of Nepal, reigning from 2001 to 2008. As a child, he was briefly king from 1950 to 1951, when his grandfather, Tribhuva ...

to consider amassing an independent police force. Subsequently, the Armed Police Force was founded on 24 October 2001. Late

Krishna Mohan Shrestha Krishna Mohan Shrestha ( ne, कृष्णमोहन श्रेष्ठ) was the first Inspector General of Armed Police Force (Nepal). Shrestha was killed by the Maoist insurgents during the Maoist insurgency in Nepal. Krishna Mohan alon ...

of the Nepal Police (then serving as Additional Inspector General of Police) was its first Chief. The current command and control organization of Nepal's army is outlined along the protocol of the 1990 Constitution and its interim constitution. Its standing Inspector General is the Chief of Armed Police Forces, equivalent in rank to a three star

Lieutenant General Lieutenant general (Lt Gen, LTG and similar) is a three-star military rank (NATO code OF-8) used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title of lieutenant general was held by the second-in-command on the ...

of the

Nepal Army The Nepali Army ( ne, नेपाली सेना, translit=Nēpālī Sēnā), technically the Gorkhali Army ( ne, गोरखाली सेना, translit=Gōrakhālī Sēnā, label=none; see ''Gorkhas''), is the land service branch ...

. The fundamental ethos of the Armed Police Force (APF) is ''Peace, Security, Commitment''.

History

The Armed Police Force, Nepal was founded in 2001 to help Nepal's army and civil police force counter a growing

Maoist Maoism, officially called Mao Zedong Thought by the Chinese Communist Party, is a variety of Marxism–Leninism that Mao Zedong developed to realise a socialist revolution in the agricultural, pre-industrial society of the Republic of Ch ...

insurgency in Nepal. It was fundamentally a

organization and mostly engaged in counterinsurgency operations. In August 2003, five constables of the Armed Police Force were killed in a military operation in the Ramechapp District of Nepal which killed 39 Maoist rebels. In January 2003, the head of the Armed Police Force Inspector General

was shot and killed by Maoist insurgents while taking his morning walk, alongside his bodyguard and wife who were also killed.

Weaponry

FN FAL The FAL (a French acronym for (English: "Light Automatic Rifle")), is a battle rifle designed in Belgium by Dieudonné Saive and manufactured by FN Herstal (simply known as FN). During the Cold War the FAL was adopted by many countries of th ...

*, , ,

L1A1 The L1A1 Self-Loading Rifle, officially "Rifle, 7.62mm, L1A1", also known just as the SLR (Self-Loading Rifle), by the Canadian Army designation C1A1 (C1) or in the US as the "inch pattern" FAL,Especially on the American surplus market. is a Br ...

M16 The M16 rifle (officially designated Rifle, Caliber 5.56 mm, M16) is a family of military rifles adapted from the ArmaLite AR-15 rifle for the United States military. The original M16 rifle was a 5.56×45mm automatic rifle with a 20-roun ...

http://www.nepaldispatch.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/armed_police_force_nepal.jpg

Current department and commander

Operations

In November 2001, the Nepalese armed forces began military operations against the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist). And Armed Police Force was involved in this operations with the birth of its organization along with

. Allegations of war crimes and human rights abuses have been leveled by the media against members of the Armed Police Force. However, this is generally considered very small compared to the atrocities committed by the then Maoist insurgents. Truth and Reconciliation Commission(Nepal) under political pressure of the governing party has failed to take actions against the humans rights abusers on either sides.

Roles of Armed Police Force, Nepal

* To control any ongoing or would be armed conflict within the country, * To control any ongoing or would be armed rebellion or separatist activities within the country, * To control any ongoing or would be terrorist activities within the country, * To control any ongoing or would be riot within the country, * To assist in rendering relief to natural calamity or epidemic victims, * To rescue any citizen or else from hostage captivity or in the event of occurrence of heinous and serious crimes or unrest of grave nature or of anticipation, * To guard border of the country, * To assist under the Nepalese Army in condition of external invasion, * To protect public vital installations, infrastructures and other facilities assigned by the Government of Nepal, * To protect the personalities and public vital installations, institutes and other facilities considered to be given protection by the Government of Nepal, * To perform tasks assigned as per this act and under its regulations or in accordance to other prevalent laws, * To perform other tasks assigned from time to time by the Government of Nepal. * To mobilize in customs, revenue and industrial security.

International peacekeeping missions

Armed Police Force contributes its soldiers in peacekeeping efforts under the coveted blue flag of the United Nations for global peace and security as a whole. Since October 2002, Armed Police Force, Nepal has made contributions to various UN Peace Keeping Missions like UNGCI (Iraq), UNMIK (Kosovo), UNMIL (Liberia), UNAMSIL (Sierra Leone), MINUSTAH (Haiti), UNMIS & UNMISS (Sudan), UNAMID (Darfur), UNSOM (Somalia), UNMIT (East Timore) & UNFICYP (Cyprus) as a UN Police advisers, instructors, monitors and contingent. 6582 APF Personnel had already participated as a member of FPU contingent and 785 personnel have served as an Individual Police Officer (IPOs) until August 2018 in the United Nations Peace Keeping Missions.

References

External links

Background Note: Nepal

Official website of the Nepal Army

Official website of the Armed Police Force of Nepal
{{Authority control Specialist law enforcement agencies of Nepal Military of Nepal Nepalese Civil War 2001 establishments in Nepal