The Nepali Security Sector: An Almanac Bishnu Sapkota (ed.) Geneva Centre for the Democratic Control of Armed Forces, Geneva, Switzerland European Studies Center, Faculty of Humanities, University Pecs, Hungary Published in the European Union in 2009 by Brambauer Publishers, Hungary. The Nepali Security Sector: An Almanac ISBN First edition The Transition Series is jointly published by the Geneva Centre for the Democratic Control of Armed Forces and the Centre for European Studies. This volume was made possible by generous support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Norway, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Switzerland, and the UK Department for International Development (DFID) as part of the SSR Step Stone Project in Nepal. CONTENTS Acknowledgements Preface VII Philipp H. Fluri and Komal Pokhrel I. Introduction a) Background and Summary 1 Bishnu Sapkota b) Democratising the Security Sector in Nepal: 3 Lessons Learned and Challenges Ahead Shiva Hari Dahal II. The Legislature 1. The Legislature-Parliament 19 Dinanath Sharma III. The Executive 2. The Role of the Head of State 39 Krishna Khanal 3. The Role of the Head of State Administration 55 Deepak Prakash Bhatta 4. The Role of the National Security Council: An Analysis 73 Surendra Pandey 5. The Role of the Government 85 Sayed Mohammed Habibullah 6. State, Government and Security 97 Sarita Giri IV. The Security Providers 7. The Nepalese Army 121 Narahari Acharya 8. The People’s Liberation Army 139 Ameet Dhakal 9. The Nepal Police and the Armed Police Force 155 Govinda Thapa 10. Border Security and Management 177 Laxmanlal Karna 11. The National Intelligence Department (NID) 191 Kiran Nepal 12. Non-Statutory Forces 209 Ajaya Bhadra Khanal 13. Private Security Companies 225 Aayushma KC V. Security Related Actors 14. The Nepalese Judicial System 241 Bhimarjun Acharya 15. Justice Systems in Security Organisations of Nepal 263 Hari Phuyal 16. Criminal Justice System in Nepal 277 Mandira Sharma 17. National Human Rights Commission 295 Sushil Pyakurel VI. Third Parties 18. Involvement of the Civil Society in the Security Sector: 319 Transformation Debate in Nepal Bishnu Raj Upreti 19. Media and the Security Sector: Shifting Relations 335 Sudheer Sharma List of Contributors 359 Acknowledgments The programme partners Geneva Centre for the Democratic Control of Armed Forces (DCAF) and the National Peace Campaign (NPC) would like to thank the platform of five like-minded states (Denmark, Finland, Norway, Switzerland and the UK) for their generous financial support. Equal thanks go to the main editors, Mr. Bishnu Sapkota, the reviewers, Mr. Shiva Hari Dahal and Mr. Shrawan Sharma and to the contributors, who in spite of their heavy professional burdens found time and interest to contribute to this important volume. Mr. Peter Vanhoutte, the erstwhile DCAF project leader, took great care in instructing and accompanying the editor and the team of contributors through the early stages of the project. We sadly acknowledge the death of Professor Habibullah during the editing process of this volume, a valued colleague whose kindness and immense knowledge of security matters in Nepal and at the international level will remain unforgotten. Philipp Fluri, DDr. habil. Komal Pokhrel Deputy Director DCAF Director NPC Kathmandu Preface In May 2009, a platform of five like-minded states (Denmark, Finland, Norway, Switzerland and the UK) requested that the Geneva Centre for the Democratic Control of Armed Forces (DCAF), with the Nepal Peace Campaign (NPC) as its local partner, embarked on a comprehensive parliamentary capacity building programme which has the objective of assisting the Constituent Assembly and the Parliament of the Federal Republic of Nepal in their efforts to create a democratic republican constitution, to endow Nepal with the tools and instruments of an effective and efficient democratic parliament, and to create a sound basis for inter-parliamentary discourse with other democratic parliaments. Thus the programme supports both the peace process, the early steps towards a comprehensive parliamentary role in oversight issues, and stakeholder engagement with the security sector of Nepal. At the beginning of a democratic transition process it may be best to inventorise what already exists. Non-democratic societies as a rule are not much interested in transparency . Thus the laws and policies regulating the security sector – if they exist – may not be universally known and accessible, and the same or similar may hold true for the rules of engagement for parliament and parliamentary committees with the security sector. The DCAF-NPC project thus not only comprises a comprehensive cooperation programme with parliament and the security sector, but also allows for the compilation and publication of highly pertinent documentations which will facilitate the work of policymakers and lawmakers in the near future. These documentations are: (1) a comprehensive collection of all security-sector relevant legislation in Nepali and English (2) commentaries to the existing legislation by Nepali and international experts (3) the first edition of an Almanac – initiated and edited by civilian experts - on the structure and orientation of the security sector in Nepal, again published in the English and Nepali, thus to contribute to transparency in the security sector, and greater civilian involvement in the analysis and documentation of security sector institutions and processes. The two project partner organisations are delighted to present herewith as a second volume in the series the Almanac on security sector relevant institutions and processes of the Federal Republic of Nepal. We are proud to have found in Mr. Bishnu Sapkota a most diligent and capable editor who also most successfully VIII oversaw the work of the translators. Mr. Sapkota was fully aware of the challenges of the work he was going to undertake and mastered them with great skill and diligence. Kathmandu and Geneva, Dashain 2009 Philipp Fluri, DDr. habil. Komal Pokherel Deputy Director DCAF Director NPC Kathmandu I. Introduction Background and Summary Bishnu Sapkota The Nepali state has followed a tumultuous historical course in the last two decades. Opened with the People’s Movement in 1990 that ended the 30-year autocratic Panchayat regime under the direct leadership of the monarchy and established a parliamentary democracy with a constitutional monarchy, the political course saw the biggest ever political change in 2008 – the election of the Constituent Assembly and the abolition of the monarchy. The peace process that started in 2006 brought an end to the 10 year old Maoist insurgency and the Constituent Assembly is now in the process of writing a new constitution that is expected to give the country a stable and prosperous democracy. While the political transformations in the process has shown signs of promise for state restructuring and stability, the floodgates it has opened have also created numerous new challenges that the country’s leadership has had to handle with farsightedness and wisdom. There still are certain key issues where the political consensus is yet to be built such as: what form of state administration (presidential, prime ministerial?) should Nepal have? What should the basis for division of the federal units be? Which form of electoral system should be adopted? While it is expected the Constituent Assembly will work on these issues and reach to a workable consensus by the May 28 deadline of 2010 for the promulgation of the new constitution, the subject of security sector reform is a cross-cutting and underlying theme deeply entrenched with the subjects of state restructuring, democratic stability and political processes. The objective of The Almanac on the Nepalese Security Sector is to contribute to the discourse on security sector reform that will have a far-reaching impact on Nepal’s state restructuring and democratic process. The political changes that have been taking place in Nepal have been extremely far-reaching. In a sense, the underlying motive of the changes is still to leave the old Nepal behind and enter a new era of nation building where everything has to be re-thought out, re-planned and re-implemented. This is the time that the country requires highest degree of imagination, creativity, courage and vision. The Almanac brings together as authors a group of senior politicians across the major political parties, academics, journalists, human rights defenders and lawyers who have been speaking about, writing on and engaged in policy making in the area of security sector reform. The authors are not only contributors to the book but also are people who will continue to lead the discourse on the area and play a key role in policy making and decisions as the country progresses towards stability. The contributors from the political side are responsible and influential leaders within their respective parties, the journalists are chief editors of the major newspapers and 2 Bishnu Sapkota newsmagazines, the academics and human rights defenders are well-respected individuals who have been long-engaged in generating ideas in related areas and who will continue to influence the debate in one way or another. In this sense, the Almanac is a happy collection of authors representing the important spectrum of politics, civil society, academics and media. The Almanac expects to contain all basic information about the security sector reform in Nepal, debates and controversies on certain sensitive issues, and an analysis and recommendation about what should be adopted by the state as long term security policies. The book expects to be a central reference material for the Constituent Assembly, Government and its agencies, political parties and policy makers as they work on the security sector reform in the coming years. The objective of the book is to contribute to the security sector reform process by bringing together information, data and analysis that is required on all related areas like the military, police, intelligence and the overall role of government as the executive.