by Christopher Sharma

Deputy Prime Minister Bamdev Gautam presents a security report to parliament. The authorities have stepped up surveillance of radical and monarchist groups. Some leftwing and separatist groups are also a danger.

Kathmandu (AsiaNews) - Hindu extremists and monarchists represent a serious threat to Nepal's stability, said Nepal's Deputy Prime Minister and Home Affairs Minister Bamdev Gautam.

"Overall, 12 Hindu radical organisations and religious groups are a threat to security and peace," the minister said in a statement to parliament. For this reason, "We are intensifying controls and surveillance of their activities."

The most serious threats are represented by the campaign for the creation of a fundamentalist Hindu state, promoted by former Interior Minister Khum Bahadur Khadka, the Nepal Sanatan Hindu State Struggle Committee of Shreenivas Acharya, and Shivasena Nepal.

In addition to the aforementioned groups, Nepal's deputy prime minister mentioned two more  "dangerous" associations, namely a separatist group led by Chandra Kant Raut that seeks to establish an independent state in the southern region of the country (Madhesh), and the extremist left-wing Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist (CPN-M).

"We will separate criminal and political cases and treat them differently," Gautam said. "However, no individual or group will be excused for actions carried out in the name of religion or politics."

• nepal
• security
• threats
• peace
• hindu
• radical
• monarchists
• left-wing
• communist
• separatist
• madhesh