Nepal

Kathmandu, November 12

The Election Commission has issued 19-point directive to the government, requesting it to ensure that by-elections scheduled for November 30 are conducted in a free, fair and peaceful environment.

The poll panel urged the government to prohibit people to carry explosives, toxic substances, batons, spears, khukuris, rifles, pistols and other weapons. According to the EC, the concerned district administration officers will impose such ban to prevent any untoward incidents during the by-elections. The DAOs will initiate necessary action to keep licensed firearms in their custody until the by-elections are over. The directive requires the DAOs to request all licence holders to compulsorily submit their weapons to the local administration or the nearest police office as soon as possible.

Anyone who does not abide by this order will be liable to legal action. The firearms will be returned to the concerned licence holders after the by-elections are over. Police have been authorised to reach out to the concerned persons to collect licensed firearms and initiate action against them if they are not submitted voluntarily.

Failure to surrender registered firearms shall be considered disobedience to the state and will be dealt with accordingly. Ministry of Home Affairs has issued around 34,000 licensed firearms to various individuals and organisations through DAOs across the country for the security of their lives and property. The government has also been told to impose ban on production, sale and distribution of unlicensed liquor.

The EC has also urged the government to take action against those who violate the by-elections code of conduct and inform the district monitoring committee about the punishment handed down to the violators.

&The EC requests the government to ensure that the security and civil personnel assigned for by-elections perform their duties and responsibility in professional manner,& the poll panel said.

The by-elections will be held for 52 vacant posts of peoplerepresentatives — one member of the House of Representatives, three provincial assembly members and 48 chiefs, deputy chiefs and ward chairs at local levels. Nominations of candidates for by-elections of local levels will be held tomorrow. The EC has already published final list of 64 candidates contesting the upcoming by-elections.

The MoHA has devised a special security plan for the by-elections. Nepal Police will be deployed inside the polling centres while Armed Police Force and Nepali Army will man the second and the outermost rings, respectively. Constituencies and polling centres have been classified as ‘highly sensitive&, ‘sensitive& and ‘normal&, considering security threats.

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Kathmandu, November 12

Six Nepali youths, who were trafficked and held hostage in southeastern African nation Malawi, have been rescued unharmed and sent home.

Malawi police had recently rescued them as per the request of the Anti-human trafficking bureau of Nepal Police. According to AHTB, the youths were lured to Malawi via Vietnam, Ethiopia, Madagascar, Jordan, Dubai and Azerbaijan with the promise of taking them to America. A few days after the youths landed in Malawi, they were taken hostage in a house near Blantyre city. The victims managed to reach out their families back home and pleaded for their rescue.

Kin of the victims lodged a complaint at AHTB on November 6, seeking its intervention in the case. &AHTB coordinated with Malawi police, leading to their safe rescue and arrest of Nazir Ahamad, a Malawian national of Indian origin there,& said Superintendent of Police Govinda Thapaliya, AHTB spokesperson. The victims were sent home yesterday. SP Govinda said Malawi police had initiated legal action against Ahamad in accordance with its law. Ahamad was the owner of the house where the Nepalis were held hostage.

The victims, who were sent home, told the police that they travelled for 144 days to reach Malawi via different transit countries before being taken hostage. According to AHTB, it has launched further investigation into the involvement of Nepal-based international rackets in trafficking and taking hostage of the youths in Malawi and probably in many other countries.

Cases of human trafficking are often trivialised by linking them with other aspects such as migration for employment. &It is claimed that trafficking victims refuse to come forward with complaints for action against their perpetrators. Lack of effective coordination among non-government organisations working against human trafficking and governmentinability to crack down trafficking cases thriving under the guise of foreign employment are reasons why cases of the heinous crime often go unreported,& said a recent report published by the National Human Rights Commission. It is estimated that around 35,000 persons, including 15,000 women and 5,00 girls were victims of human trafficking in 2018-19, according to the report.

The web of trafficking for worst forms of slavery and sexual exploitation has been gradually spreading across African and Latin American countries. Human traffickers have been capitalising on lack of employment, their low level of education and poverty to lure women, girls and men into foreign countries, with the promise of lucrative jobs and better future. The victims realise that they have been cheated only when they are left to fend for themselves in a foreign land.

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