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Proliferation of small armsRamesh Paliwal gang, Sidhdartha Lama gang 8 and many others areoperating. Criminal gangs are active in many other small towns therebycreating severe insecurity and violence. All these criminal gangs are usingsmall arms creating serious and immediate security threats.In Nepal, the security forces have collected small arms from civiliansduring the time of armed conflict but the whereabouts of these armsare not known. There are numerous questions left unanswered such aswhere these arms are, who has been using them and has the concernedauthority stored it or not.Proliferations of small arms, criminalisation of politics, politicisation ofcrimes, militarisation of youths and emergence of armed groups andcriminal gangs are positively correlated. Arm-based abduction is themajor problem in Kathmandu. One glaring example is given here. On 5thJune 2009, Mahesh Sarada was kidnapped from his house (Thapathali).Anti-kidnapping Cell of Crime Investigation Department of MetropolitanPolice searched but failed to find him. Later, on 14th June, he returnedhome by paying 1.4 million. 9 There are numbers of such kidnapping caseswidely reported in Nepalese media and all of the accused criminal gangsare using illegal small arms.Conflict and post-conflict situation is often characterised by widercirculation of illegal arms, their abuses and related insecurity. Nepal is notan exception. Its post-conflict transition is characterised by multiplicationof armed groups, criminalisation of politics (as political protection ofcriminals is rampant), gender-based violence (rapes, molestation, sexualmurder etc.), urban crimes (kidnapping, gang fights, looting, pick pocketingetc.), rural insecurity (extortion, threat, kidnapping etc.) militarisation ofyouths (formation of fighting forces by political parties and groups etc.)and erosion of social trusts are common in Nepal. Further, communalharmony is severely threatened by the ethnic politics. 108See special report of Mukul Humagain and Peshal Acharya entitled, ‘Sana hatiyar ko jagjagi’ (proliferationof small arms) in Nepal National Weekly, Vol. 9, No. 24, 1st February 2009 (19 Magh 2065) for detailshow small arms are affecting the country.9See Naya Patrika National Daily of 14 June 2009 (31 Jestha, 2065), Year 3, No 62.10Popular investigative journalist and host of BBC World Trust programme ‘Sajha Sawal’ Mr NarayanShrestha expressed some of the working examples of social disharmony he observed. In the third weekof March, 2009, he was in Phidim where youth from Pallo Kirat Limbuwan Rastriya Munch were sayingventing out very brutal anger worth physical assault to revenge the so-called upper caste people. Sameexpressions were made in Ilam and Dhuklabari Chok too [See Naya Patrika, 3 Baisakh 2067 BS (16 April2010), Page 6 and 11 for details]. This indicates the complexity of ethnic conflict.246