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Home Minister Gautam vows to act tough on anyone flouting law

A week after assuming the post, Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister Bam Dev Gautam has said he is determined to improve the deteriorating law and order situation of the country.

Home Minister Gautam's avowal comes a day after inviting armed groups operating in various parts of the country for talks and warning that if they don't comply the government will use force. He said that anyone taking the law into their hands, be they Maoist affiliated Young Communist League (YCL) or Youth Force (YF), wouldn't be spared.

Gautam said that the nation is under the grip of anarchy and pledged that during his tenure he would rein over it no matter what. Gautam who is a senior party member of Unified Marxist Leninist (UML) also said that he would not allow outfit belonging to a ruling party to take the law into their own hands, even if it may be from his own party - like the Youth Force.

"YCL won't be spared just because it belongs to Prachanda and Youth Force won't be given any kind of liberty just because it belongs to Bam Dev," he said speaking at a programme in the capital, even as the two outfits have been engaging in sporadic clashes in Dolakha and Dhankuta, prompting the local authorities to clamp curfew.

Youth Force is a "youth wing" of UML set up with objective of working as a "vigilante group" and having a modus operandi is similar to its arch-rival YCL.

Gautam, who is known as an outspoken leader, said that if the government succeeds in maintaining the rule of law in the country then there would be peace, pledging that he would move forward giving high priority to improving the law and order situation of the country.

"A political solution would be found to the political crimes that prevail in Tarai and force would be use against any criminal tendencies," the Home Minister added. nepalnews.com ag Sep 03 08