Minister for Peace and Reconstruction Ram Chandra Poudel has said that the government is working through a committee to carry out the task mandated by the constitution towards security sector reforms.

“Our greatest challenge in the security sector reforms is to streamline the Nepali Army and integration of verified Maoist combatants,” he said.

Speaking at the closing ceremony of five-day workshop on Democratic Transition and Civil Military Relations, on Friday, Minister Poudel said that security sector reforms involved not only the right sizing of the security bodies but also internalisation of basic tenets of human rights. The government wants its security wings to be “more democratic, inclusive and responsive to changed local and global contexts,” said Poudel.

Poudel received the document on “National Security Strategy Development” prepared by the workshop by incorporating inputs from the government officials, political leaders, security officials, civil society as well as business sector. He said the government will go through the document and implement its suggestions where possible.

Addressing the ceremony, Robert Hugins, Charge d’Affaires of the US Embassy, stressed the importance of security to hold free and fair Constituent Assembly elections. “The recommendations should prove as invaluable references to policy makers,” he hoped.

At the programme, Nepali Congress leader and former foreign minister Chakra Bastola and Additional Inspector General of Police (AIG), Armed Police Force (APF), Sanat Kumar Basnet presented the highlights of the document. Professor Shridhar Khatri of South Asia Center for Policy Studies (SACEPS) said that the workshop was aimed at making the democratic transition as peaceful and productive as possible.

The document prepared by the workshop details the national security in its various dimensions and has also elaborated about its determinants, especially in Nepali context.

The workshop was jointly organised by SACEPS, the Honolulu-based Asia Pacific Center for Security Studies (APCSS) and California-based Center for Civil Military Relations (CCMR). The workshop was funded by the US government.

This is the third in a series of six workshops in Nepal conducted by SACEPS, APCSS and CCMR. A ‘Security Sector Reform and Democratic Transition’ workshop occurred in August and September 2006, while a ‘Democratic Control of the Security Forces’ workshop was held at the end of May, 2007.

“The purpose of this workshop was to build on the accomplishments and recommendations of the previous workshops in order to build a consensus on Nepal’s core values, national interests, and national objectives,” states a press release issued by the US Embassy.