Kathmandu, July 5
Students organisations of two of the largest parties in Nepal’s ruling alliance went on the warpath today, triggering violence, arson and vandalisation in one of the oldest colleges in the capital.

The All-Nepal National Free Students’ Union, affiliated to the ruling Communist Party of Nepal-Unified Marxist Leninist, clashed with Nepal Students’ Union (NSU), loyal to the largest party in the government, the Nepali Congress.

The clash was over the construction of an additional storey at the Trichandra College, a 99-year-old college that is among the capital’s landmarks.

During the fight over which contractor should be given the building job, an NSU leader, Bhimsingh Gurung, was shot in the leg.

His organisation claimed the shooting was done by the Youth Force, the youth outfit started by the ruling party recently to combat the dreaded youth wing of the opposition Maoist party. In retaliation, NSU cadres vandalised the office of its rival union in the college and in the ensuing violence, the offices of the campus chief and administrative head were also set on fire.

The warring students then took their fight to the streets, burning tyres on the road and disrupting traffic.

The violence comes as the two allies exchanged angry notes last week with the Nepali Congress accusing the communist party’s Finance Minister Surendra Pandey, of disbursing largesse from the state treasury without consulting the other partners.

Cracks have started to surface between the two biggest ruling parties even though they are under attack from the Maoists. They have kept up a blockade on Parliament since May 5, a day after their government fell.

They are demanding an admission in the house by the Prime Minister that President Dr Ram Baran Yadav had acted unconstitutionally by reinstating the chief of the army, whom the Maoists had sacked. — IANS

Chief of his faction of the Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N) Nawaz Sharif has said he will feel honoured if he is asked to serve the country as Prime Minister for the third time.

Talking to reporters in London, Sharif said military dictator General Musharraf had mutilated the constitution and concentrated powers in the presidency, turning the Prime Minister into an ineffectual figurehead. "He also imposed the ban on two-time Prime Ministers to seek a third term in order to keep me and late Ms Benazir Bhutto out of the race," he said.

Sharif spoke bitterly of the PPP government's attitude towards him and said its leadership had tried to keep him out of the electoral process. The government adopted a hostile position on his petition against his conviction in the hijacking case fabricated by General Musharraf and endorsed the stance of the former dictator, Sharif said.

Referring to the Supreme Court's decision to reserve judgment on the case last month, Sharif seemed rather puzzled over the delay in announcement of the judgment. "I don’t know why the judgment has been reserved for such a long time," he added.

He supported the government's current military operations in Swat and tribal areas. The former Premier said nobody should be allowed to hold the state at gunpoint and those who challenge the writ of the state should be dealt with sternly.

Sharif, who is visiting the UK reportedly for his wife’s medical check-ups, had a lengthy interaction in London on Friday with leaders and workers of the PML-N as well as journalists.

Sharif said the frequent takeovers by the army had given rise to militancy and extremism in Pakistan.

Answering questions, he criticised what he called India’s refusal to resume the composite dialogue. He said the Pakistan Government or state institutions were not involved in the Mumbai carnage.

Responding to another question, he said nothing had changed since the ouster of the dictator.

"The powers that the dictator had amassed in his hands are still there in the office of the President."

Vancouver, July 5
An Indo-Canadian officer with the Canadian Border Services Agency (CBSA), who minted money by allowing smuggling of cocaine into Canada, faces extradition to the US after his indictment by a court in Seattle.

Jasbir Singh Grewal has been indicted by the US court for allowing over a dozen large shipments of cocaine into Canada from Washington State of the US.

For each shipment, Grewal was paid $50,000.

He made an extra $600,000 in the second half of 2007 alone, said the Vancouver Sun quoting court documents.

“Jasbir Singh Grewal abused his position of trust and influence with the government of Canada by allowing the co-conspirators travelling by recreational vehicles to exit the United States through the Lynden/Aldergrove port of entry,” the paper quoted the indictment documents as saying.

“Grewal was typically paid $50,000 for successfully smuggling each load of cocaine,” it added. — IANS

London, July 5
North Korean military workers have been sighted near the Indian border as the military regimes of Myanmar and North Korea forge an increasingly close alliance aimed at busting international sanctions, a British newspaper reported today. The alliance includes barter trade and nuclear cooperation, the Sunday Times reported.

It said the first group of North Koreans was sighted in the jungles of Arakan in northern Myanmar some time ago, mystifying local villagers who mistook them for Japanese.

“In fact, they were North Korean engineers building a complex of tunnels and bunkers for the Burmese military junta in an axis of outcasts,” the paper said.

It said more North Koreans have since been seen - and photographed - around Naypyidaw, the Myanmar military junta’s isolated new capital, where they have supervised the construction of a subterranean complex.

A third group of North Koreans has now been spotted in restive Chin state, bordering India and Bangladesh. They are said to be equipping tunnels with generators and anti-gas ventilation systems, the paper said.

“Eventually, the junta is to have a web of underground command posts, linked by fibre optic cables, to help it put down any revolt and keep control in a national emergency,” the paper said, quoting exiles from Myanmar and diplomats in the capital Yangon (Rangoon).

One report suggested that some sections of tunnels in Myanmar were wide enough for trucks and could accommodate 600 personnel for several months, with storage space for food and weaponry.

The Sunday Times said two military regimes appeared to be building up a barter trade. North Korean ships have been spotted unloading heavy equipment and wooden crates that appeared to be military consignments, probably small arms and ammunition.

In return, Myanmarese workers loaded consignments of rice, rubber, hardwood and rare minerals, the paper said.

It said the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) was principally concerned about a Myanmarese project to operate a nuclear research reactor supplied by Rosatom, a Russian company.

The reactor will be similar to a North Korean plant that has been used to make plutonium for nuclear bombs. — IANS