Talks between NSU and ANNISU-R cancelled; Valley campuses closed down
Talks between Nepal Students Union (NSU) and the pro-Maoist All Nepal National Independent Students Union –Revolutionary (ANNISU-R) on Friday to allay the rising tension between them have been cancelled after the leaders of the former student organisations failed to turn up at the talks venue due to “internal reasons”.
ANNISU-R general secretary Himal Sharma told a local radio station that although they had reached the talks venue on time, NSU leaders didn’t turn up, so the meeting had to be cancelled.
NSU president Pradip Poudel failed to turn up for the talks as he was called by PM Girija Prasad Koirala at his residence at that time. Koirala is the president of NSU’s parent party, the Nepali Congress.
Besides Poudel, former NSU general secretary Gagan Thapa and ANNISU-R chairman Lekhnath Neupane were scheduled to attend the talks for reduce the tension between the two student organisations.
Due to clashes between the activists of the two student groups classes in many colleges in the Kathmandu Valley and beyond remain disrupted from the past many days.
Meanwhile, ANNISU-R has enforced a closure in all campuses in the valley to protest vandalism at its central office and arrest of its activists during clashes with NSU students. ANNISU-R has warned of indefinite educational strike from tomorrow onwards if its demands are not met.
In the meantime, the ANNISU-R has expressed regret for torching the vehicle used by CPN-UML lawmaker Som Prasad Pandey.
In a statement on Friday, the Maoist student body said the strike was not intended to the UML MP. The ANNISU-R further said that it couldn’t, however, take responsibility for the attack and the person involved in the incident.
ANNISU-R also said it was ready to assist the state authority and the police to take action against those involved in attempt to attack MP Pandey during the agitation on Wednesday. nepalnews.com ag/ia Aug 17 07
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