NC, UML activists among nine arrested nationwide:

Pokhara, January 29:

The women’s unions affiliated to the seven-party alliance staged a rally in Pokhara today urging people to help make the upcoming municipal polls unsuccessful. The rally that started from Tundikhel later converged into a corner meeting at Chipledhunga.

Addressing the corner meet, Sita Giri, central secretary of Nepal Women’s Union, urged all the poll candidates to withdraw their names. “The dearth of candidates for the upcoming municipal polls is the sign that the autocratic regime is weakening,” she said. Meanwhile, plainclothes security personnel arrested two Nepali Congress (NC) activists who were on their way to a protest programme, in Pokhara this afternoon.

The security forces arrested Bed Hari Timilsena, secretary of the Nepal Tarun Dal, Kaski, and Ram Bahadur Karki, president of the NC ward number-12, Pokhara sub-metropolis.

A report from Bara said the security personnel arrested three CPN-UML activists in Kalaiya, Bara, today. They are being kept at the Birgunj Jail, the report said. The District Security Committee sent Binod Shah, secretary of UML Kalaiya municipal committee, Surendra Yadav, chairman of the Democratic National Youth Union, Bara, and Balbir Choudhary, member of UML Narayani zonal committee, to Birgunj jail, handing each a three-month arrest warrant.

The All Nepal National Students’ Union (ANNFSU), Bara, has condemned the arrests and warned of further protests if the prisoners are not released immediately. In Rautahat, security forces arrested four activists of the seven-party alliance from Gaur this morning. The arrested persons were each given a three-month arrest warrant and taken away to the District Police Office.

The security forces arrested Tulasi Raj Giri, chief of CPN-UML Rautahat publicity committee and Sachida Nanda Shah of the same party; and Dinesh Prasad Keshari and Binda Sahani of the NC. “This is a ploy of the local administration to obstruct the programmes of the alliance,” Rajendra Patel, former chairman of the District Development Committee, Rautahat, said.

Issuing separate statements, Rautahat District Court Bar Association, the NSU and the ANNFSU have condemned the arrests and demanded for an immediate release of all political activists.