STUDENTS DEMAND ELECTIONS FOR POSTPONED UNIONS Kathmandu, 2 June: Nepal Students’ Union, a student wing of NC, disrupted movement for several hours Sunday morning in front of TU campuses in the capital. The students are coming out with protests in the afternoon demanding postponed union elections in four years. TU postponed the 6 June elections after widespread irregularities in registering voters while spending millions o rupees in elections. TU officials blamed students affiliated with political parties for the election postponement. Nnnn NEPAL, INDIA TO ADDRESS SECURITY CONCERNS Kathmandu, 2 June: KATHMANDU: Nepali and Indian officials today agreed to address each-other’s security concerns and curb illegal activities across the open border the two countries share, The Himalayan Times reports.. In the annual Home Secretary-level talks held in Kathmandu, both sides agreed to increase vigilance and cooperation in border areas against criminal activities such as human and drug trafficking, smuggling of Indian counterfeit currency and trade in illegal substances. Home Secretary Nabin Ghimire led an 18-member Nepali delegation, whereas his Indian counterpart RK Singh headed a 16-member team. The Indian side urged Nepal to increase vigilance in border areas to curb racketeers spreading counterfeit Indian currency in the Indian market. New Delhi has long suspected that international racketeers have been using Nepal to smuggle fake Indian notes to India. The Indian side also drew Nepal’s attention to the continued trade in banned red sandalwood from India to Tibet via Nepali routes. An Indian delegate told The Himalayan Times they assured New Delhi’s technical support for Nepalese security organs. The Nepali side assured it would not tolerate any activity against India’s security from its soil. It also sought prompt cooperation from the Indians regarding criminals who hide in Indian territory after committing crimes in Nepal. “At a time when we are going to hold general election, we need more security cooperation from the Indian side, particularly in the Tarai belt,” said a Home Ministry official. Talking to THT earlier, Home and Foreign Minister Madhav Prasad Ghimire had said the entire gamut of bilateral and common security concerns would be discussed during the meet. Nepali delegates also drew India’s attention regarding past commitments related to technical support for Nepal’s security bodies, including the building of a Police Academy in Panauti, Kavre. The Nepali side agreed to deduct the tax of those Indian officials who provide training. The talks were delayed because of differences over the content of the minutes of the meeting. Nnnn MAOISTS WILL RULE FOR THREE DECADES SAYS FORMER PM BHATTARAI Kathmandu, 2 June: Unified CPN-Maoist Vice-chairman Baburam Bhattarai today said that his party would rule the country for at least 30 years but fell short of explaining the ground for his claim, The Himalayan Times reports from Pyuthan.. “Our party will rule the country at least for another 30 years and we are elated that even other parties have admitted to this fact,” said the former prime minister while speaking at a programme organised by UCPN-M-aligned Teachers’ Union in the district. “Other parties earlier used to acknowledge this fact only inside the rooms, but now they have started admitting it publicly,” added Bhattarai in his effusive praise of his own party. Stating that his party was ready to hold fresh Constituent Assembly election by mid-December, Bhattarai alleged that some political parties in the country and some foreign forces were conspiring to foil the polls. “China and India want political stability in Nepal, but some western countries are plotting against CA polls,” said the former prime minister without clarifying which foreign forces he was referring to. Bhattarai even went on to claim that his party would develop Nepal as the world’s most affluent country but again fell short of explaining how, except saying his party had a vision for that. “Our party has a vision to make Nepal world’s one of the most prosperous countries,” said Bhattarai and urged people to help his party win a two-thirds majority in the upcoming CA election to ‘materiliase his party’s dream’. “We failed to work as per people’s aspirations as we had garnered only 40 per cent seats in the earlier CA election. We will show the world this time what we can do if we achieve a two-thirds majority,” he said. Bhattarai also told the audience his long tale of woe as to how he failed to institutionalise the achievements of federalism, secularism and republicanism through the last CA. “I had initiated work on some good projects but they could not be completed as I had to quit,” said Bhattarai. As he was in Pyuthan, the former prime minister said his party had plans to develop the ancestral home of CPN (Masal) General Secretary Mohan Bikram Singh in the district as a communist museum. “I had asked to allocate budget for the purpose when I was the prime minister but unfortunately we could not present the budget,” he said. nnnn