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House panel seeks more time to discuss arrest warrant authority for APF

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KATHMANDU, June 27: Parliamentary committee on state affairs on Friday directed the Ministry of Home Affairs not to grant APF the authority to issue arrest warrant for now stating that the panel needed more time to discuss various aspects of the issue.


The panel took the decision after a meeting of the committee at Singha Durbar Friday.

"Majority of the lawmakers sought more time to discuss the issue. So we directed the ministry to wait until the parliamentary committee gives its consent," Joint Secretary Bharat Raj Gautam said.

Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister Bam Dev Gautam, who has been pushing for more powers to the APF, sought to play down concerns at the meeting stating that there was no dispute between the Nepal Police and the APF over jurisdiction.

DPM Gautam further clarified that APF would not be granted authority parallel with the Nepal Police in crime control.

"We have realized some ambiguity in the wordings in the proposed draft for the new APF regulations and we will soon resolve them," he said.

According to Home Ministry sources, the bill's committee has formed a sub-panel to resolve the dispute.

Although the APF will be allowed to make arrests, those detained will have to be handed over to concerned agencies like the Nepal Police, customs and forest departments for further investigation, Minister Gautam said.

He also made clear that no attempt is being made to grant APF the right to conduct investigations.

Former IG of Nepal Police and lawmaker Rabindra Pratap Shah said that it would be against the basic principles of international law and practice to authorize a paramilitary force to issue arrest warrants.

NC lawmakers Ramesh Lekhak and Hirdaya Ram Thani said that it would be against the basic spirit of its nature of work if APF was given the authority to issue warrants. Lawmakers in the meeting stressed that there should be no duplication of roles among security agencies.



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