Kathmandu, April 30

Very few licence holders have complied with the government’s order to submit their firearms for safekeeping until the local levels polls.

The MoHA had published a notification in the Nepal Gazette on March 23, directing all the licence holders to surrender firearms, both small and large, to any district administration office or the nearest police unit by April 28.

An official at the Ministry of Home Affairs told The Himalayan Times that as many as 826 licenced arms were received by the DAOs and police units across the country till last week. “We are yet to obtain from the concerned districts the details of firearms submitted to them during the last six or seven days,” he informed.

According to the MoHA, all 75 district administration offices have issued firearms licence to around 10,000 persons for the security of their lives and property. There are around 34,000 licensed firearms across the country.

Kathmandu District Administration Office alone has a record of issuance of 13,322 licenced firearms. “Anyone who does not abide by this order will be liable to legal action as it could affect the holding of local polls in a free and fair manner. The failure to surrender registered firearms obtained from the government shall be considered disobedience to the state order and will be dealt with accordingly. The MoHA will make a policy decision before swinging into action,” he warned.

Police have been authorised to reach out to the concerned persons to collect licenced arms and initiate action against them.

Earlier, the Election Commission had issued a four-point directive to the Ministry of Home Affiars, urging it to keep licenced arms in the custody of district administration offices or police until local level polls were over.

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