Kathmandu, March 21

A meeting of the Cabinet held on March 18 passed the National Security Policy, but the government has not disclosed its contents. Security experts have criticised the government’s decision and urged the government to put the NSP in the public domain.

The government endorsed the NSP, which is a revised version of 2016 NSP, after it was forwarded by the National Security Council recently.

Security expert Geja Sharma Wagle said the government should disclose the contents of the document as soon as possible. “Every democratic country in the world puts NSP in the public domain. Only communist countries keep it under wraps,” he said, adding that all citizens of the country should have the opportunity to know the NSP’s contents.

Another security expert and former major general Binoj Basnyat said the policy should be an open document for all to see. “If we look at examples from other countries, we can easily find that those documents are in the public domain,” he said, adding that the NSP served as guideline for citizens of the country.

Security expert Prem Singh Basnyat said the NSP was a public document. “While keeping a minuscule fraction of the policy secret may be justified, all other contents must be put in the public domain,” he said.

Minister of Communications and Information Technology Gokul Baskota today said at a press briefing that the NSP had provisions that would enable the nation to counter security threats that could come from forces within and outside the country.

“The government had come up with the policy as per the national requirement,” he said. But the minister didn’t say that the government would put the NSP in the public domain. He said journalists should seek more information about the NSP from the Ministry of Defence.

An official of the Ministry of Defence said he did not want to talk about the NSP.