The report has also disclosed that despite the decreasing number of people under arms, the terror of unauthorized arms continues to prevail.[break]
The report launched after a study undertaken with different analysts and involving more than 3,000 respondents in randomly selected districts across the country, was focused on crime and violence. Unemployment, poverty and limited access to health care and education have continued to be identified as key drivers of crime and violence, the report says.
According to the survey, termination of local firearms production has enhanced relocation of production, primarily to neighboring India, as traffickers took advantage of the porous border between the two countries.
According to Subindra Bogati, coordinator of Nepal Armed Violence Assessment (NAVA) project, people fear falling victim to non-violent property crime more than murder, armed robbery or kidnapping. Based on the report, he said 41,400 to 83,500 households possess firearms across 30 districts.
The study also concludes that Kathmandu Valley and other urban hubs as well as a number of Tarai districts are key destinations for illegal arms coming from blackmarkets in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh in India.
The report further says, “Tackling illegal arms trafficking without harming the local population remains a delicate matter, as does the collection of illegal firearms currently in civilian possession.” The report also highlights that current security arrangements are better compared to earlier years and the police have become more active. So it was not necessary to form any special security task force as talked about earlier.
Shankar Koirala, joint-secretary at the Ministry of Home Affairs, said, “Though armed violence is a global problem, the government in Nepal has been able to progressively address the problem and it has come up with various programs to reduce violence in total.”
He also informed that the recent attempt by the government to collect illegally kept weapons resulted in the collection of over 5,500 firearms from various places in the country. The study estimates that there are 440,000 privately owned firearms, with roughly one-eighth (55,000) believed to be legally registered.
Most unregistered arms are craft weapons referred to as country-made or katuwa, and there are an estimated 330,000 of these. The Nepal Army has about 160,000 small arms and the law enforcement agencies roughly another 74,000, according to the report.
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