Dedicated to Daniel Pearl

The government has said it is all set to implement special security mechanism in three phases in view of the upcoming election to Constituent Assembly (CA) slated for April 10.

Speaking at the meeting of Constituent Assembly Management and Monitoring Special Committee of the interim legislature parliament to about the preparations being made for the elections, Home Minister Krishna Prasad Sitaula said that the first phase of the security plan would be implemented from January 29 to February 19, just ahead of the last date for registration of candidature while the second phase would be implemented from February 20 to April 10, the date set for CA.

Similarly, the third phase of the security mechanism would be implemented from the date CA election is held till the “victory rally” organised by the parties who emerge victorious in the polls, he said.

Sitaula also informed that in order to make necessary security arrangements for the upcoming elections 40,000 policemen, 22,000 armed police personnel and 69,700 temporary police personnel (to be conscripted on contract basis) would also be mobilised across the country.

Speaking at the same meeting, Minister for Peace and Reconstruction Ram Chandra Poudel said that the government is committed towards implementing the agreements it signed with indigenous ethnic groups including Madhesis in the past, adding that efforts are on to bring the agitating Terai groups to the negotiating table.

Earlier, the security committee of the Home Ministry had held discussions with heads of all security agencies and approved the security mechanism.

Peace and Reconstruction minister Poudel, who is also the senior-most minister in the Koirala-led cabinet, and Minister of General Administration Ram Chandra Yadav, among others, were also present in the meeting chaired by Speaker Subas Chandra Nemwang.

The committee had also held discussion with Election Commission officials on matters related to the upcoming election.

Chief of UN Mission in Nepal (UNMIN) Ian Martin said the security situation in central and eastern districts of Nepal is not conducive to elections.

Briefing the press at UN headquarters in New York on Wednesday, after the Security Council extended the mandate of the UNMIN for next six months, Secretary General’s Special Representative to Nepal Martin said, “The security situation in districts of central and eastern Terai is not conducive to elections, as armed groups had carried out killings and abductions.”

He further said, “While the government had responded with security measures, it was not just a matter of policing, but also of establishing a political context in which the great majority of marginalized groups would want to participate in the elections.”

He said the government reached an earlier agreement in the Tarai region, but it had not been accepted fully, and a fresh dialogue is now sought. While stating that the 23-point agreement, recently signed between the government and the Maoists, didn’t satisfy the Madhesis, Janajatis, Dalits and other marginalized groups, he said, “The central challenge until the April elections is to address the concerns of marginalized groups through dialogue in order to reach agreement on participation in the Constituent Assembly and to address the security situation in Central and Eastern tarai.”