Dhankuta, September 3:

The Youth Force (YF) and Young Communist League (YCL), the youth wings of CPN-UML and CPN-Maoist, respectively, today agreed to ease tensions in Dhankuta bazaar, which has been under curfew since Sunday after a series of clashes between the two youth factions.

CPN-UML district secretary Tikaram Chemjong and CPN-Maoists’ Dhankuta in-charge and CA member Hemraj Bhandari (Sudarshan) signed an eight-point agreement on behalf of their respective parties to ease the tensions.

The agreement was reached during talks held in the office of the eastern regional administrator in Dhankuta.

However, local administration has not relaxed the curfew in the bazaar and surrounding areas yet.

According to the agreement, the CPN-UML will bear the costs of treatment of Maoists’ Dhankuta district secretary Dilli Ram Rai (Kamal) and the Maoists will compensate a UML cadre, whose motorbike was torched by YCL cadres.

Both parties also regretted the incident and urged the local administration to bring the situation back to normalcy.

In addition of the representatives of the warring parties, Dhankuta CDO Prakash Prasad Pokhrel and DSP Nara Bahadur KC were also present in the talks.

Meanwhile, the indefinite curfew disrupted normal life in Dhankuta. Essentials were in short supply. Examinations in Dhankuta Multiple Campus were also postponed.

The YF and YCL cadres clashed first on Friday over the YCL’s donation collection drive on the Dhankuta-Dharan section of the Koshi Highway. The two sides also clashed over the weekend.

Local administration clamped the curfew since 9:30 am on Sunday. The administration said the curfew could be relaxed or lifted tomorrow as the two sides are expected to reconcile after today’s agreement.