Kathmandu, February 19:

The All Nepal National Independent Students’ Union-Revolutionary (ANNISU-R), the student wing of the CPN-Maoist, today threatened to boycott the Free Students’ Union (FSU) elections slated for February 28 if all the detained students were not released by then.

ANNISU-R president Lekhnath Neupane, in a press release issued here today, said there was no possibility the student bodies taking part in the FSU polls if the government continues suppression of students by abducting, killing and arresting them. “The student bodies should struggle for the release of all the detainees rather than prepare for the FSU polls,” said Neupane.

“The FSU elections cannot be fair since the government has imposed a ban on the strong opponent ANNISU-R hence the concerned authority should create an environment for the pro-Maoist student unions to participate in the FSU elections,” said Neupane.

He said rather that individual candidates there should be a provision to vote student unions to monitor the FSU. He also appealed to all the student bodies to fight against the royal takeover.

Meanwhile, the Nepal Students’ Union (NSU) today formed a five-member committee under the coordination of Mahendra Kumar Sharma to finalise its candidates for the FSU polls. According to a press release issued here today, the committee comprises Badri Pandey (general secretary), Ranjit Karna (general secretary), Pradip Poudel (vice president) and Deepak Adhikary, (vice president), under the chairmanship of NSU president Sharma.

The Nepal University Teachers’ Association today demanded that the government withdraw hike in the price of petroleum products at the earliest. “The government’s decision to let private organisations fix the price is almost bound to harm commoners,” said a press release here today.