An Armed Police Force of Nepal personnel in Kathmandu

The Nepalese Armed Police Force (APF) is a

land force An army, ground force or land force is an armed force that fights primarily on land. In the broadest sense, it is the land-based military branch, service branch or armed service of a nation or country. It may also include aviation assets by ...

tasked with counter-insurgency operations in

Nepal Nepal, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mainly situated in the Himalayas, but also includes parts of the Indo-Gangetic Plain. It borders the Tibet Autonomous Region of China Ch ...

. 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 was 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 to consider amassing an independent police force. Subsequently, the Armed Police Force was founded on 24 October 2001. Krishna Mohan Shrestha 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 military rank 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 battlefield, who was norma ...

of the Nepal Army. 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 Mao Zedong Thought, is a variety of Marxism–Leninism that Mao Zedong developed while trying to realize a socialist revolution in the agricultural, pre-industrial society of the Republic of China (1912–1949), Republic o ...

insurgency in Nepal. It was fundamentally a

paramilitary A paramilitary is a military that is not a part of a country's official or legitimate armed forces. The Oxford English Dictionary traces the use of the term "paramilitary" as far back as 1934. Overview Though a paramilitary is, by definiti ...

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 Krishna Mohan Shrestha 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 (, English: Light Automatic Rifle) is a battle rifle designed in Belgium by Dieudonné Saive and manufactured by FN Herstal and others since 1953. During the Cold War the FAL was adopted by many countries of the NATO, North Atlantic Trea ...

*, , , :

L1A1 The L1A1 Self-Loading Rifle (SLR), also known by the initial Canadian designation C1, or in the U.S. as the "inch pattern" FAL, is a British version of the Belgian FN FAL battle rifle. The L1A1 was produced under licence and adopted by the arme ...

* : M16

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 Nepal Army. 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. The 14 mandates assigned by the APF, Nepal Act 2072 is simply categorized into a concept called BIRD. The 'BIRD' Concept simplify the major roles as B for Border Security, I for Internal Security, R for Revenue Support(formerly Riot Management) and D for Disaster management. It was popularized by IGP Raju Aryal.

International peacekeeping missions

The Armed Police Force contributes members to peacekeeping efforts under the flag of the United Nations, for global peace and security as a whole. Since October 2002, the Armed Police Force has made contributions to various UN peacekeeping missions like UNGCI (Iraq), UNMIK (Kosovo), UNMIL (Liberia), UNAMSIL (Sierra Leone), MINUSTAH (Haiti), UNMIS & UNMISS (Sudan), UNAMID (Darfur), UNSOM (Somalia), UNMIT (East Timor), and UNFICYP (Cyprus) as UN police advisers, instructors, monitors, and patrol contingents. 6582 APF personnel had already participated as a member of an FPU contingent, and 785 personnel have served as Individual Police Officers (IPOs) up until August 2018 on United Nations peacekeeping 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 Gendarmerie