Kathmandu, February 5

Main opposition Nepali Congress today condemned arrests of cadres of its sister wing Nepal Students Union who have been staging demonstrations against the government’s failure to maintain law and order, curb corruption, and uphold democratic, parliamentary and federal norms.

Police today arrested NSU leaders, including its President Nain Singh Mahar, while they were holding a demonstration demanding release of their  cadres arrested yesterday in Pokhara. Similarly, police arrested additional NSU cadres in Pokhara today. The NC said the administration arrested and kept the NSU cadres in custody on the basis of false allegations.

“The government has made a direct intervention against the people’s fundamental rights to stage peaceful protests,” said the NC in a statement. “This act has revealed the government’s authoritarian and totalitarian nature.”