KATHMANDU, Oct 5: A serious dispute has surfaced within the two student wings of the ruling NCP over their demand to sack Nepal Police chief Sarbendra Khanal for the police failure to resolve the Nirmala rape and murder case.
The dispute surfaced after the chiefs of the ANNFSU affiliated to the erstwhile UML Nabina Lama and the ANNISU-R affiliated to the then CPN (Maoist Center) Ranjit Tamang in a memorandum submitted to Home Minister Ram Bahadur Thapa on Thursday demanded dismissal of police chief Khanal. The two student leaders had submitted the memorandum without discussing the issue in their respective student organizations.
Student wings of ruling NCP demand IGP Khanal's resignation
However, other office bearers of the two student wings alleged that Lama and Tamang were guided by vested interests in demanding the resignation of the police chief.
General Secretary of the ANNFSU Ain Mahar said the demand for dismissal of police chief was not discussed in any committees of the student wing.
General Secretary Mahar said seeking dismissal of police chief appointed by the current government is tantamount to seeking an alternative to the government itself.
Similarly, Dipesh Pun, vice-chairman of ANNISU-R said, “Some people are trying to fish in the troubled waters at a time when the two unions are in the process of unification,” Pun said.
But sources claimed Lama and Tamang actually want to appoint someone else as police chief and the Nirmala case just a false pretext to dismiss Khanal. The sources said that Lama turned against Khanal after the latter reportedly refused to release gangster Satyaman Lama, who is allegedly involved in a series of crimes in the Kathmandu Valley, and is close to Nabina.
