Armed Police Force

Last updated

Armed Police Force, Nepal
Armed Police Force logo.png
Emblem of the Armed Police Force
AbbreviationAPF, Nepal
MottoPEACE SECURITY COMMITMENT
Agency overview
Formed2001
Jurisdictional structure
Federal agency Nepal
Operations jurisdiction Nepal
Governing body Ministry of Home Affairs
Constituting instrument
  • Armed Police Force Act, 2001
General nature
Specialist jurisdictions
  • National border patrol, security, and integrity.
Operational structure
Headquarters Kathmandu, Nepal
Agency executive
Child agency
Website
www.apf.gov.np
The armed police force of Nepal doing morning training at Halchowk, Swoyambhu, Nepal. Armed Police Force of Nepal.jpg
The armed police force of Nepal doing morning training at Halchowk, Swoyambhu, Nepal.
An Armed Police Force of Nepal personnel in Kathmandu An Armed Police Force of Nepal personnel in Kathmandu.jpg
An Armed Police Force of Nepal personnel in Kathmandu

The Armed Police Force, Nepal is a land force tasked with counter-insurgency operations in Nepal. 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.

Contents

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 of the Nepal Army.

The fundamental ethos of the Armed Police Force (APF) is Peace, Security, Commitment.[ citation needed ]

History

The Armed Police Force, Nepal was founded in 2001 to help Nepal's army and civil police force counter a growing Maoist insurgency in Nepal. It was fundamentally a paramilitary 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. [1] 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. [2]

Weaponry

Current department and commander

S.N.DepartmentCommander
1Border Security DepartmentAIG Narayan Dutta Paudel
2Operation DepartmentAIG Banshi Raj Dahal
3Human Resource DepartmentAIG Chandra Prakash Gautam

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

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.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ghana Armed Forces</span> Combined military forces of Ghana

The Ghana Armed Forces (GAF) is the unified armed force of Ghana, consisting of the Army (GA), Navy (GN), and Ghana Air Force.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nepalese Armed Forces</span> Military of Nepal

The Nepali Armed Forces are the military forces of Nepal. Composed primarily of the ground-based Nepali Army, organized into six active combat divisions, the Nepalese Armed Forces also operates the smaller Nepalese Army Air Service designed to support army operations and provide close light combat support. The Nepalese Army also operates smaller formations responsible for the organization of air defense, logistics, military communications, artillery, and airborne forces within Nepalese territory. In addition, the Armed Police Force acts as a paramilitary force tasked with maintaining internal security within Nepal.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peacekeeping</span> Activities intended to create conditions that favour lasting peace

Peacekeeping comprises activities, especially military ones, intended to create conditions that favor lasting peace. Research generally finds that peacekeeping reduces civilian and battlefield deaths, as well as reduces the risk of renewed warfare.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Military police</span> Police organization part of the military of a state

Military police (MP) are law enforcement agencies connected with, or part of, the military of a state. In wartime operations, the military police may support the main fighting force with force protection, convoy security, screening, rear reconnaissance, logistic traffic management, counterinsurgency, and detainee handling.

People's war or protracted people's war is a Maoist military strategy. First developed by the Chinese communist revolutionary leader Mao Zedong (1893–1976), the basic concept behind people's war is to maintain the support of the population and draw the enemy deep into the countryside where the population will bleed them dry through guerrilla warfare and eventually build up to mobile warfare. It was used by the Chinese communists against the Imperial Japanese Army in World War II, and by the Chinese Soviet Republic in the Chinese Civil War.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nepalese Civil War</span> Maoist insurgency in Nepal (1996–2006)

The Nepali Civil War was a protracted armed conflict that took place in the former Kingdom of Nepal from 1996 to 2006. It saw countrywide fighting between the Government of Nepal and the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist), with the latter making significant use of guerrilla warfare. The conflict began on 13 February 1996, when the CPN (Maoist) initiated an insurgency with the stated purpose of overthrowing the Nepali monarchy and establishing a people's republic; it ended with the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Accord on 21 November 2006.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist Centre)</span> Political party in Nepal

The Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist Centre) (Nepali: नेपाल कम्युनिस्ट पार्टी (माओवादी केन्द्र)), abbreviated CPN (Maoist Centre), CPN-Maoist Centre, CPN Maoist Centre, or CPN (MC), is the third largest political party in Nepal and a member party of Socialist Front. It was founded in 1994 after breaking away from the Communist Party of Nepal (Unity Centre). The party launched an armed struggle in 1996 against the Nepalese government. In 2006, the party formally joined mainstream politics after signing a peace agreement following the 2006 Nepalese revolution.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Central Reserve Police Force</span> Federal police force in India

The Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) is a reserve gendarmerie and internal combat force in India under the authority of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) of the Government of India. It is one among the Central Armed Police Forces. The CRPF's primary role lies in assisting the State/Union Territories in police operations to maintain law and order and counter-insurgency. It is composed of Central Reserve Police Force (Regular) and Central Reserve Police Force (Auxiliary).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Communist Party of India (Maoist)</span> Maoist political party and militant group in India

The Communist Party of India (Maoist) is a Marxist–Leninist–Maoist banned communist political party and militant organization in India which aims to overthrow the "semi-colonial and semi-feudal Indian state" through protracted people's war. It was founded on 21 September 2004, through the merger of the Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist) People's War (People's War Group) and the Maoist Communist Centre of India (MCCI). The party has been designated as a terrorist organisation in India under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act since 2009.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">United Nations peacekeeping missions involving Pakistan</span>

Pakistan has served in 46 United Nations peacekeeping missions in 29 countries around the world. As of 2023, United Nations (UN) statistics show that 168 Pakistani UN peacekeepers have been killed since 1948. The biggest Pakistani loss occurred on 5 June 1993 in Mogadishu. Pakistan joined the United Nations on 30 September 1947, despite opposition from Afghanistan because of the Durand Line issue. The Pakistan Armed Forces are the sixth largest contributor of troops towards UN peacekeeping efforts, behind Ethiopia and Rwanda.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bangladesh UN Peacekeeping Force</span>

The Bangladesh Armed Forces and the Bangladesh Police have been actively involved in a number of United Nations Peace Support Operations (UNPSO) since 1988. Currently Bangladesh is the largest contributor in the UN peacekeeping missions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rookmangud Katawal</span>

General Rookmangud Katawal is a former Nepalese Army general, who served as the Chief of Army Staff of the Nepal Army from 2006 to 2009. General Katawal has come across controversy after the then Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal unilaterally decided to sack Katawal on May 3, 2009.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">People's Liberation Army, Nepal</span> Maoist militant organisation in Nepal

The Nepalese People's Liberation Army was the armed wing of the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist). The PLA was founded in 2002, in the midst of the Nepalese Civil War initiated by the Maoists in 1996. The chief commander of the PLA during the war was Prachanda. On 12 September 2008, Nanda Kishor Pun was appointed new chief commander of the PLA, as Prachanda had become Prime Minister of Nepal. This move was in line with a pledge issued by the CPN(M), issued prior to the 2008 Constituent Assembly election, that their members elected to the Assembly would leave their PLA positions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sashastra Seema Bal</span> Indian border guarding force for Indo-Nepalese and Indo-Bhutanese borders

Sashastra Seema Bal is a border guarding force of India deployed along its borders with Nepal and Bhutan. It is one of the seven Central Armed Police Forces under the administrative control of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Naxalite–Maoist insurgency</span> Armed conflict in India between the state and Maoists

The Naxalite–Maoist insurgency is an ongoing conflict between Maoist groups known as Naxalites or Naxals and the Indian government. The influence zone of the Naxalites is called the red corridor, which has been steadily declining in terms of geographical coverage and number of violent incidents, and in 2021 it was confined to the 25 "most affected" locations, accounting for 85% of Left Wing Extremism (LWE) violence, and 70 "total affected" districts across 10 states in two coal-rich, remote, forested hilly clusters in and around the Dandakaranya-Chhattisgarh-Odisha region and the tri-junction area of Jharkhand-Bihar and-West Bengal. The Naxalites have frequently targeted police and government workers in what they say is a fight for improved land rights and more jobs for neglected agricultural labourers and the poor.

The State Armed Police Forces of India are the police units established for dealing with serious law and order situations requiring a higher level of armed expertise than normal. The State Armed Police Forces exist in addition to the ordinary police services of the various states.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Krishna Mohan Shrestha</span>

Krishna Mohan Shrestha was the first Inspector General of Armed Police Force (Nepal).

Uttar Pradesh Provincial Armed Constabulary (UP-PAC) or Pradeshik Armed Constabulary (PAC) is an armed police of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. It is maintained at key locations across the state and active only on orders from the Deputy Inspector General and higher-level authorities. It is usually assigned to VIP duty or to maintain law and order during fairs, festivals, athletic events, elections, and natural disasters. They are also deployed to quell outbreaks of student or labor unrest, organized crime, and communal riots; to maintain key guard posts; and to participate in antiterrorist operations. The Provincial Armed Constabulary is equipped with INSAS semi automatic guns and usually carries only lathis while controlling the mob during unrests. UP-PAC consists of a total of 20,000 personnel as of 2005, composed of 33 battalions located in different cities across the state as a wing of Uttar Pradesh Police. Each battalion is commanded by a Commanding Officer(CO) who is usually an IPS officer of Senior Superintendent rank, and has seven to eight companies consisting of 120 to 150 Jawans, each company headed by a State Police officer of Inspector rank, who is usually referred to as company commander in the PAC and below company there are 3 platoons consisting of 40-50 Jawans, each platoon is usually headed by a Sub-Inspector rank state police officer. The PAC is headed by the Additional Director General Provincial Armed Constabulary.

Events from the year 2003 in Nepal.

The Defence Force of Haiti was the envisaged name of the planned, reconstituted armed forces of the Republic of Haiti. Haiti had not had a regular armed forces since 1995; a process to reestablish them was initiated in 2011 and culminated in their remobilization in 2017.

References

  1. "Nepal – Maoist Rebels – Worldpress.org". worldpress.org. Retrieved 16 September 2022.
  2. "Nepal's Police Chief Killed". The New York Times. Agence France-Presse. 26 January 2003. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 16 September 2022.
  3. "Image". BBC. Retrieved 27 August 2023.
  4. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 13 March 2017. Retrieved 8 January 2019.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  5. Image ohmynews.com [ permanent dead link ]
  6. "Nepal's armed police forces during the Republic Day". gettyimages.com. Retrieved 27 August 2023.
  7. "Armed Police Force. Nepal". Archived from the original on 13 March 2017. Retrieved 8 January 2019.