The armed police force of Nepal doing morning training at Halchowk, Swayambhu, Nepal.An Armed Police Force of Nepal personnel in Kathmandu
The Nepali Armed Police Force (APF) is a Paramilitaryland force tasked with counter-insurgency and border security 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 it's peak. In 2025, Inspector General, APF Raju Aryal claimed the number of sanctioned officers to be above 37,000 and urged to increase it to 60,000 in future inorder to meet all requirements after increase in border outposts and changing political environment.
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 Force, 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.
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]
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.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
